Sonadow - The Island
by SonicsFan4ever
Summary: ALL CHAPTERS EDITED! Sonadow; Mephilver and Fleetourge in later chapters. Real description in ch. 1. Sonic gets kidnapped and is brought on an island, where hedgehogs are forced to breed by an organisation of humans. Only one hedgehog doesn't seem interested in raping him. Can he escape this hell? Rated M, will contain rape and heavy stuff.
1. Shocking news?

Hello and welcome to the corrected version of 'The Island'! I've tried to find and correct every mistake I made in it, and in the process deleted some words or sentences or added some, but I did nothing, that would change the plot everyone fell in love with.

To everyone, who's new here: please, enjoy!

* * *

 _ **Sonadow – The Island**_

 _When a scientist announces, that every male mobian hedgehog is either an uke or a seme, nobody really cares. But when Eggman of all people reveals, that Sonic is an uke, things... SONIC changes. When Sonic mentally breaks down and is a mess, it seems like a miracle, that people show up, who know how to treat a nervous uke. However, this is far from true. Those people have totally different intentions and they drag poor Sonic in this mess. The only friend he has in this hellhole called "the Island" is a black and red hedgehog, who seems the only one not interested in raping him..._

* * *

 **1: Shocking news!?**

Ever heard some news and thought: _Meh, that doesn't concern me, is probably fake..._? That's what most people thought, when they heard of the study of a scientist, whose name was forgotten before he had even started speaking.

What he told, sounded ridiculous. He spoke about male mobian hedgehogs and that they are divided in ukes and semes. The difference could be determined with a few chemicals, that reacted different on the blood: it colored the blood of an uke pink and the blood of a seme blue.

Who didn't switch channels after this boring start, could listen to how the scientist told everyone, that ukes needed to be specially protected as they weren't able to do so themselves, how he offered to test every male hedgehog for free and to bring the ukes among them into a special institution to be safe, until they found a seme to protect them. It was quite nonsense and nobody with dignity even thought about going there. And within a few months, nobody remembered this.

* * *

It was a normal day for Sonic the Hedgehog, when he fought in a city against his enemy Dr. Eggman. The oval shaped man sat in the head of his newest robot, a giant monster with claws, that were bigger than the hedgehog.

Sonic spindashed it again, this time slightly touching one of the claws, that cut as a result in his leg. Sonic didn't faze this much, he was used to wounds – and this was literally a scratch compared to his many battle scars hidden under his fur.

He continued to destroy the robot, slightly wondering, why the doctor didn't curse him like always for damaging this invention of his. Meh, maybe he was just bored of those curses or didn't want to get hoarse, or something like that...

In no time, he had destroyed the robot and Eggman was forced to use his hovercraft to not land hard on the floor. Strangely, he didn't curse him still. Sonic furrowed his brow in confusion. Why? His plans were ruined! Why was he still smiling, laughing even?

Suddenly, the giant screen, that was hanging above him at a skyscraper and that normally just showed news and stuff like that, flickered and Eggman's face appeared on it. "You think you won, Sonic, but not this time!," he laughed. His voice was echoing, the whole city or even the whole country got him on every screen, Sonic mused.

"I finally found out something against you, you pesky pincushion!" "And what might that be, Eggy?," Sonic asked, bored. He didn't know, what he could mean. He didn't have anything to hide.

"Remember that scientist from a year ago who found out about male hedgehogs being divided in ukes and semes?"

"Uh...no, not really. Tails told me about it, but I forgot it.," Sonic shrugged.

Eggman facepalmed. "I forgot that you are as clever as a feral hedgehog.," he muttered. "Hey, even a feral hedgehog could beat you, Eggbreath! Now get to the point already!," Sonic growled, tapping his foot impatiently.

"As I was saying, male hedgehogs like you are divided in the weak males, the ukes and in the stronger ones, the semes. With some chemicals, you can test the blood of a hedgehog and it'll change colors – and that's what I did!"

"Huh?" Sonic looked at his still bleeding leg. "That's right, my clawbot stole some blood from you and I did the test while you were busy destroying it. And now, look at that!" He held up a small glass with a light pink fluid, so everybody could see it. "Pink means uke, so the great Sonic the Hedgehog is nothing but a simple, weak uke. How does it feel?," the doctor taunted, letting his camera zoom in on the hedgehog.

To his great surprise, Sonic laughed. "How it feels? Pretty good, thanks for the ego boost!," the hedgehog chuckled.

"W-wha-?," the doctor stammered. "You should be a crying, whimpering mess!," he shouted angrily.

"Why? Because you told me I'm supposed to be weak? Maybe this test is right and I am an uke – but I am still strong enough to fight and beat you and protect everyone. So basically, you only showed me, that I can do more than I should be able to and this in front of everyone, including other male hedgehogs who might be this uke-thingy. Great ego boost for everyone, thanks, Egghead!," Sonic grinned.

Eggman pulled his mustache out of pure frustration. "I hate you, I hate you with all my dark non existing heart, hedgehog!," Eggman screamed and flew off, while the screens returned to normal. It was so like him to curse illogically, when he was angry.

Satisfied, Sonic bathed in the crowd's happiness and thanks for a while, before leaving and returning home. There, Sonic was already greeted by his brother, who was ready to treat his wound, so it wouldn't get infected.

"Hi, Tails." Willingly, as Sonic knew, that the young fox would insist on treating him, he plopped on a kitchen chair, so that Tails could clean and bandage his leg. "Got Eggy's message?," Sonic asked.

"Who didn't? Good reaction, by the way. Seriously, as if you would break down because of that.," Tails chuckled and finished his treatment. "Done. Wanna go out and buy some chilidogs?," he asked.

"Su-" Sonic got interrupted by the door, that got slammed open. The brothers heard footsteps and suddenly a crying Amy stood in the frame. "Sonic, I came as soon as I heard it!," she cried.

"Heard? Heard what?," he asked confused, when she practically jumped on him. "You're an uke!," she cried.

"So? Amy, it's no big deal, didn't you hear that?," Sonic tried to soothe her. She looked up at him, suddenly furious. "Of course it is! That means, we can never marry!," she cried.

"Huh?," Sonic said, confused again. "Sonic, ukes don't have female partners, only male ones, the semes!," Tails explained. "Oh."

"Yeah, it's horrible. I always wanted to marry Sonic one day!," Amy sobbed, clutching her arms around his neck. Sonic looked at Tails. "Help me!," he mouthed, as he was literally breathless.

Tails sighed. "Amy, look... Sonic's an uke, that isn't changeable. But I read, that ukes are the best friends of females. You know, always listening to their problems, helping them in any way they can, stuff like that. If you do it right, Sonic and you could be as close as him and me."

"R-really?," Amy asked, hopefully, loosing her grip a little. "Yeah. Just go easy on him. You know, ukes are quite sensitive and easily get upset." "Oh." Quickly, Amy let go of the – slightly bluer than usual looking – Sonic, who gasped for air. "Don't worry, I promise, I'll be the bestest friend you ever had! I have to tell Cream, so bye!," she waved and ran away.

Sonic sighed in relief. "Did you have to tell her this sensitive-stuff?," he asked Tails. "Well, I read it in a book about semes and ukes and thought it would make her go easier on you than normally." "That may be true... did you really read this stuff you told Amy in that book?" "Yeah, I did. After this report last year, I thought it would be good, as you are a male hedgehog. Of course, I never thought you would be an uke. I just thought, if you maybe found an uke yourself and would like to have some advice..."

"That's nice of you, Tails, but I should be the one giving you advice." "Don't worry, I'm far from being in need of one, but thanks." They hugged in a brotherly way. "How about we order a pizza? I rather have a nice relaxing day after the newest Amy-episode." Sonic yawned, stretching. "Sure thing, I'm on it!," Tails smiled, grabbed the phone and started dialing the number of their favorite pizzeria.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Eggman's evil lair...

"I hate this hedgehog! I hate it, hate it, hate IT!," Eggman shouted while throwing things through the lab. He turned to the only other person with a heartbeat, who stood in a corner, watching him.

"That's all YOUR fault! You said it would work!," he accused with a pointing finger. "I SAID, that this was the first phase and you completed it. Now it's time for phase two."

"And when will Sonic be my little lab rat!?" "Depends...but, I guess, in a few weeks, if everything works like I thought."

"I hope so, otherwise I'll want my money back!," Eggman growled and marched out of the room.

The other person smirked, once he was gone. "You won't get a lab rat. That uke is my ticket to everything I ever wanted and more.," they chuckled.

* * *

It doesn't look like much, yet, but believe me, it'll get better in the next chapters.

Oh, and who does find a mistake, may keep it :)!


	2. Psycho terror

**2: Psycho terror**

A week passed and everything seemed to be normal. However, Tails noticed, that Sonic acted slightly different.

He was jumpier, for example when he had sneaked up behind him and said "Boo!". It was a game between them, just for fun, nothing more. This time, however, Sonic had gotten so scared, that he had ran up a tree and stayed there for two hours, before Tails had found him and explained everything. After that, Sonic had played the whole incident down.

But that wasn't all. Sonic got scared by every loud noise, for example, when Tails threw the front door shut like always, and sometimes, he even jumped by mere shadows on the walls – even his own!

He ate less, not even a whole chilidog in a day, and he seemed to sleep longer, straight in the afternoon, Tails noticed, when he had let him sleep to see how long it would take him to wake up on his own. And even then he had looked still tired.

Sonic suddenly didn't like being alone anymore, he followed Tails everywhere, even in the bathroom, always finding excuses for his behavior. But not only for that, he also always had excuses, when Tails suggested to visit one of their friends. Though, not always. He gladly visited Cream, Vanilla and Amy, but when Tails wanted to visit Knuckles, Chaotix or someone else, he refused with excuses, that got crazier the more he had to invent them. He said things like: _To Knuckles? Er...I actually wanted to take a swim, you know?_ or: _Rotor? You know, I heard of this really fancy gardening center, I should pay it a visit..._

It took Tails a few days to notice a similarity: all the friends Sonic refused to see were males. And as he knew, ukes were careful around males, that could overpower them. Now, that he thought about it...in the book he read, it said, that ukes got easily scared...

* * *

When Sonic, seven days after his forced outing thanks to Eggman, for the third time this week refused to join him and Knuckles on Angel Island, Tails asked him directly, what was wrong, not ignoring his changes anymore. Sonic sighed tiredly and plopped on the couch in their living room, from where he hadn't moved since this morning, just watching TV, instead of running like always.

"I don't know. I...I feel weird.," the blue hedgehog said. "Weird ? Weird, like...ill?," Tails asked confused. "No...just...different. I can't explain it.," Sonic sighed and waved his hand to chase a mosquito away. As it was summer, those little beasts were everywhere.

"This uke-thing isn't getting to you, is it? You know, you act a little like one without a seme.," Tails stated, now concerned. "Come on. I'm no typical uke." Sonic flashed him his usual grin and a thumbs-up. He seemed normal to Tails...

They both jumped, when a news report on the television, that Sonic had watched without interest before, suddenly popped up and announced a new attack of Eggman in a city nearby.

"Well, time to work." Sonic jumped up, as cheerful as ever and ran out of the house. Tails, still thinking what might have gotten into him, sat in front of the television and watched the fight from there.

* * *

Once Sonic came to the city, he attacked the new giant robot, that was equipped with lots of lasers. Strangely, his attack didn't even leave a dent in the metal, that he normally cut through like a knife did with butter.

Sonic stopped, out of breath. Why was he out of breath!? Running and fighting never exhausted him that much!

"What's wrong, rodent? Too weak?," Eggman taunted and let his robot attack with one of the lasers, aiming straight at him. Sonic wanted to dodge, but- he couldn't move! He got hit in the chest and was thrown in a building behind him, that collapsed, luckily not on him. Instead, he lay on the remains of the building on his back. He tried to stand up, but he still couldn't move, he could only whimper in pain and tremble.

"Look at the mighty Sonic. And you said being an uke wouldn't make you weak! What's now with your strength?," Eggman laughed. "I-I'm not weak...," Sonic tried to convince himself, but his body refused to function. "Now you'll see, what you did by provoking me!," Eggman laughed and let his robot fire in the buildings around him, letting them collapse.

Sonic could hear people scream, in terror and pain. He had to help them, but he just couldn't move! Why? WHY!?

His ears jerked, when he heard the typical sounds of a robot, that got destroyed and Eggman who fled, cursing. Then he heard someone coming closer. He looked up and saw Knuckles above him. "Can you stand up?," he asked, as worried as he allowed himself to be.

Strangely, Sonic could now. He rose to his feet and flinched, when he saw the people gathered around them, all with hateful and disappointed glares. Some were injured, having bloody traces on their faces, in their fur or hair. "Tsk, that's what happens, when you leave important matters to ukes.," one voice in the mass said, loud enough for the hero to hear it and others nodded in agreement.

"Don't listen to him, So-" Knuckles interrupted himself, when he turned around to the blue hedgehog and saw Sonic crying. Tears ran down his face without an end. But – Sonic NEVER cried!

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry.," he whispered again and again, trembling. "Sonic, what's wrong? Pull yourself together!" Knuckles wanted to grab his shoulders and shake some sense into him, but the hedgehog ran away before he could.

* * *

Later, much later, at night to be precise, Sonic had returned home to a very worried Tails. The blue hedgehog had been really upset and it had taken Tails more than an hour to calm his brother enough to treat the wound on his chest. Luckily, it wasn't that bad, but unfortunately, it didn't explain the paralysis, that Sonic had spoken of.

Sonic didn't say, where he had been, after he had fled from the battlefield, but the dried tear stains on his cheeks spoke for themselves. He had ran somewhere to cry in desperation... Sonic quickly fell asleep on the couch after eating a little bit, he had exhausted himself obviously.

Tails called over Amy and Knuckles, who brought Sonic in his room and in his bed, before they met in the living room to talk about the newest problem. And it was a problem, Knuckles even left the Master Emerald alone because of the weird behavior of the hero, that should mean something.

Before they could start speaking, the news report of the still switched on television beat them to it. "Today, at 3 pm, during the newest attack of the evil genius 'Dr. Eggman', the popular hero Sonic the Hedgehog showed his worst performance yet, that caused 43 victims in total. There are voices out of the public, that doubt, that Sonic as an uke-"

"Seems like the uke in him is stronger after all.," Knuckles stated and switched the television off.

"No, I bet it's a trick of Eggman! He did something with him!," Amy replied, believing in Sonic like always.

"That's what I thought, that's why I drew some blood from him and analyzed it, but I didn't find anything suspicious. Everything was normal. I did some more tests, but they were negative, too."

"Did you check for mistakes in your analysis and in those tests?," Amy asked. "Five times.," Tails replied. "Oh."

"I remember this report in the radio. The scientist said, that there is an institution for ukes like Sonic. Maybe it's best when we bring him there to find a seme."

"NO!," Amy and Tails shouted at once, making Knuckles nearly fall over. They fell silent, listening to Sonic's room, but didn't hear anything. They didn't wake him up, good.

"We can't do that, Sonic would never agree! And besides, I don't want to lose him.," Tails added sadly.

"You won't lose him. He'll simply get a mate.," Knuckles tried to reassure him. "But he has already changed. Who knows, what these people do to him! Maybe he changes more and I will never get him back like he was before!," Tails cried.

"Tails, Sonic loves you, no matter what. Don't think a mate could ever change that.," Knuckles tried again.

"Well, I agree with Tails. This is all strange. Maybe we'll just...wait and see ? Maybe it's just... a phase, or something like that.," Amy said reluctantly. She didn't want to lose Sonic, too, even though they could never marry. She had already accepted that.

"And if not, Sonic could get in trouble. Half the world already sees him as a weakling. They don't trust him anymore." Knuckles pointed to the television.

"So what? Sonic had one bad day, he can mend it again. I believe in him!," Tails said, determined. Amy agreed and Knuckles eventually, too.

Unbeknownst to them, Sonic had listened to everything. He smiled and had to blink away the tears.

The belief of his friends in him was everything he needed. His decision was clear: he wouldn't let himself get down because of...whatever was wrong with him.

* * *

Another week passed and Sonic seemed back to normal. He now had trouble with sleeping, as nightmares kept him awake, therefore he seemed less energetic and more tired, but he ate more again – though he forced most of the food down and ended sometimes up with vomiting it out again – and he was much more cheerful, in comparison to last week.

He wasn't as jumpy and didn't mind being alone or among males anymore. Well, he forced most of his behavior to stay the same as before last week, but for his friends he would do everything. Whenever Eggman attacked, quite frequently in this week he had to say, he forced his body to work, not letting this paralysis take over again.

And it worked! In no time, most people were on his side again, though some were still doubting that he was capable of doing his job. While Amy, Knuckles and Tails were happy for him, that those doubting ones were the minority, one wasn't at all.

Eggman.

"Well, does everything STILL go according to plan?," he asked, pissed. "The hedgehog is more stubborn, than I thought. However, that's easily fixable. We just need to double our efforts.," the other smirked.

* * *

Tails and Sonic were just in the park, sitting on a bench to eat their recently bought chilidogs and chat a little, when suddenly a foreign arm snaked itself around Sonic's shoulders and when he turned around, he saw a male hedgehog with yellow fur sitting on his other side, grinning at him like a predator would at his prey.

"Hey there, cutie, wanna go for a walk?," he purred, coming uncomfortably close to Sonic, who simply pushed the stranger off.

"No, thanks. Go and bother someone who's interested, I'm not one of them.," Sonic said and stood up, but the other hedgehog didn't get the hint and snaked his arm around him again, this time around his waist. "Why not giving me a try?," he asked.

Sonic threw his arm off him. "I don't know what kind of drugs you took, but I would step off of it. Let's go, Tails."

Tails nodded and they left the park, leaving the hedgehog. "Oh man, that was weird." Sonic shook his head.

"W-well..." Tails played with his fingers. "What?," Sonic asked. "Well...this was a hedgehog." "Er... yeah? So? " "A MALE hedgehog, Sonic! A seme!" "You mean, he was flirting with me because of this uke-thingy?" "Maybe..." "Aw well, it was only one, right? Nothing to worry about.," Sonic shrugged.

* * *

Sadly, that wasn't true. After the meeting with the flirty hedgehog, Sonic couldn't do as much as walk a few meters, before getting jumped by random hedgehogs, that tried to get him to dates or even straight to sex.

Some even followed them home and had to be chased away by Knuckles or Amy, as they didn't listen to Sonic – and he couldn't give them a beat down for being in love, could he?

Finally, Tails decided to visit a library to look up, what he could do against this behavior. Sonic, determined to not let those attacks get to him, waited outside the library for him, to make sure he was safe, as those crazy hedgehogs had started to get aggressive towards everyone in his reach.

It had gotten so bad in the last five days since the first one, that he was close to a mental breakdown. Why did those semes think he was interested? Why didn't they accept his _No_? They acted as if he didn't have his own opinion...

"Sonic!" He looked up and saw Tails running to him, waving with a book. Just then, he felt a hand grabbing and yanking his tail, making him yelp. He turned around and saw a hedgehog with brown fur standing there, grinning. "Hey, cutie, wanna go in a hotel with me?," he asked. "NO! And don't do this again!," he hissed, trying not to make a scene. "Come on, it'll be the time of your life..."

"Leave him alone!" Tails jumped between his brother and the stranger, trying to protect him like Amy or Knuckles would.

"Go play with your action figures, pipsqueak!," the stranger snarled and pushed him, unfortunately in a bad direction, as he landed on the street – in front of a large bus, that was only a second away from ending his life for good. "TAILS!," was the last thing the fox heard, before everything went black...

* * *

When Tails woke up again, he was in their living room, lying on the couch. The memories came back after a few minutes and he shot up. He looked down on his body and was relieved to not see any injuries. Sonic must've saved him! Thank Chaos!

He jumped, when the front door got busted open. Shortly after that, Amy and Knuckles came running into the living room. "T-Tails, are you okay!? Sonic called me, he was crying and said you nearly died!," Amy panted.

"He cried!? Oh no!" Tails jumped off the couch and ran past his friends and up the stairs to Sonic's room. He nearly ripped the door out of its frame in his hurry.

There, on his bed, lay Sonic, curled up in a ball like a feral hedgehog. He shook under his sobs. "Sonic?," Tails asked carefully. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!," was his only reply.

* * *

An hour later, Sonic had cried himself to sleep. Tails, who had stayed with him the whole time, covered him with a blanket and sneaked out of his room, closing the door silently.

Downstairs, in the kitchen, he met with Knuckles and Amy. They had waited patiently, though mostly, because they wanted to know, what was wrong now.

Tails plopped on a chair and rubbed his temples. He sighed. "I...read a book in the library about ukes. To find out, why those semes are after him."

"And?," Amy urged, when he paused. "Well, apparently, Sonic gives out a scent, that works like a magnet on semes. They won't stop bothering him, until he picks one of them. And this scent will get stronger and make the semes more and more aggressive..."

"So they will harm you more next time.," a hoarse voice croaked, making them jump. Sonic entered the kitchen. He looked exhausted, his fur was matted with sweat and dark rings were under his tired, red eyes.

"Sonic, this-," Tails started, but Sonic interrupted him. "No, Tails. Do you have any idea, how close this was? I...I'm not strong anymore. I'm not fast anymore. I tried to ignore it, but...but..." He bit back a sob. "I...I can't stay here. Next time...next time...it won't end this well..."

"No!," Tails jumped in Sonic's arm, the brothers now both crying. "You can't leave! Please, don't leave me alone!," the little fox cried.

Amy had tears in her eyes as well, while Knuckles racked his brain for a solution. "I've got an idea.," he finally said and everyone looked at him. "There is this institution for ukes, right? We don't have to bring him there, but we can ask the people there for help."

* * *

And here's part two! Hope you like it! And sorry for the one part where Sonic speaks like Infinite - I wrote this before I even knew how he was called. Oh well, it will be the only one, I think. Anyway, I'm pretty busy right now, so I won't most likely be able to upload anything before next Sunday. Hopefully, I'm less busy at February. Have fun reading and a nice weekend!


	3. The uke institute

**3: The uke institute**

A few days later, Tails and Knuckles stood in front of the gates of a giant building on the outskirts of a city.

They had, after long discussions, agreed to visit this institution they had heard about, to ask for advice.

Sonic had wanted to come, too, but he had gotten ill with a fever thanks to the stress, the sleep deprivation and the undernourishment of the last days. Amy was at home with him and cared for him, while the boys would check out this place.

Tails worried the high fence out of metal and the emhigh voltage/em-sign next to the gates, above that, on a flat bow out of green painted metal, were the words 'Uke Institute' written with white painted metal letters. The, higher than a mobian, gate was closed and they couldn't open it.

Knuckles pressed the button with the sign embell/em over it next to the gate and nearly immediately, there was a voice coming through the speaker. "Hello, this is the uke institute, how may I help you?," a friendly voice – that simply didn't fit to a place like this – asked. "Er...this is Knuckles the Echidna and Miles Prower, we'd like to ask a few questions." Careful as Knuckles was, he didn't mention Sonic.

"One moment, please." After a minute, the voice spoke up again. "You are in luck, the director has time for you. Please step through the gates, the director will welcome you personally. Have a nice day."

"Er... thanks?," Knuckles replied and the gates opened without a sound. Carefully, they stepped through them and jumped a little, when the gates closed shortly after, behind them with a rattle. "This is more a prison.," Knuckles muttered, while they went along a dirt path up the hill where the building was.

To their great surprise, a young human man in his mid-twenties awaited them. He had brown hair and blue eyes. Immediately, the two mobians were even more on guard. "YOU are the director here?," Knuckles asked, not hiding his suspicion.

The human chuckled. "You would be surprised, how often I heard that already. My name is Prof. Bryan. You want to take a look around, am I correct?," he asked. "Well, we just wanted to ask for an advice...," Tails said, insecure.

"Ah, I see. Of course, I'll be happy to help out! Why don't we take a seat?" The man motioned to a bench in the shadow of a tree not too far away from them on the lawn.

"Your office's too far away?," Knuckles growled, still suspicious. "No, not at all, but the air conditioner is broken, it's like a desert in there. I think, it won't be too comfortable with your furs.," Bryan answered. Well, he had a point. It was warm enough outside, inside a room, it would be worse.

Reluctantly, the boys sat down on the bench with the human. "It is like that, our friend is an uke – and since a few weeks, he suddenly acts weird. He's scared, doesn't eat or sleep and he is swarmed by semes. Why is he acting like that? And what can we do against it?," Tails asked.

"Hm..." Bryan thought hard. "I guess your friend got lately in the right age to be bred. All ukes go through this."

"B-bred? L-like in...?" Tails and Knuckles paled. "Oh, you didn't know? All ukes are able to get pregnant and bear children."

"I-I...d-don't understand.," Knuckles stammered and Tails looked a little green. This wasn't in ANY of the books he read! Well, that explained, why ukes didn't have female partners, Tails figured. They still tried to wrap their minds around this whole thing, when Prof. Bryan continued.

"It's easily explained. In the earlier days, thousands of years ago, there had been a disease, that only affected mobian hedgehogs all over the world. Until now, it is unclear, where this disease came from, but it is well-known, that it was fatal. The male adult hedgehogs could fight it off, but most of the females and all of the children couldn't and died. As only a few females were left and hedgehogs were about to get extinct in a few years, nature took over and among the next offspring were a few male herms, meaning males with a vagina and a penis. As they were more resistant to diseases and also more fertile than females, they managed to spread their kind further. However, at some point, the reproductive system of those herms changed and the vagina disappeared, while having still the reproductive system of a female in them. That's about anatomy and that's, why nobody guesses this at first. Anyway, there are many evidences, that ukes change their behavior, when mating season approaches and they are old enough to breed. They eat less and get jumpier. That way they appear weak and are attractive to semes."

"Weakness attracts semes?," Knuckles asked. "Indeed. Semes have a natural instinct, that makes them protective. This instinct gets stronger, when they are in mating season. If they see an uke, who's too strong for their liking, they'll overpower him; this ends always in injuries and rape, and sometimes even in death. That's why ukes developed over thousands of years a lesser appetite during mating season and also, why their instincts let them get jumpier."

"But why didn't he sleep anymore?" "I guess, he had some...well...sensual dreams. As he seems fairly young, from what I heard, it might have confused him to the point he avoided sleep. As he already got contact with semes, it made him even more insecure, every time it happened again."

"Well, there were dozens...very aggressive, too..." "That happens, when the semes aren't educated like we do it here. The semes have also problems with their instincts. They want to mate by instinct and their last resistance is broken, once they smell an uke. The scent gets stronger the farther they are into mating season and when the uke resists, they get aggressive."

"But how can this scent be stopped?" "By mating." "Sonic has to get PREGNANT to get rid of those sickos!?," Knuckles shouted.

"Not if he would be here, no. Here, nobody has to get pregnant. We teach our semes to listen to their ukes' needs and don't force them to anything, neither sex nor pregnancy. For most semes, it's enough to smell another seme on an uke to stay away. But only mating stops the scent completely. As I said, it's not necessary. Once seme and uke found each other, they're quickly creating a bond between them, that is quite unique. It is some kind of mental link, that works even when they are apart. When the seme feels, that his uke gets threatened, he is quick to get to his side and to defend him."

"And...when mating season is over? Will...will Sonic be himself again? Even if he gets... pregnant?," Tails asked.

"Well, after finding his mate, there could be some slight differences. He's a little more careful, a little more emotional, maybe. There might be times, when he only wants to be with his seme. It's hard to say, it's always different."

"And if we just ignore it? I mean, mating season isn't forever, right?" "That's true, but... it might not end well."

"H-huh!?" "It is like that: your friend has the need to mate, or at least to find a mate that can sate his urges, his body craves it and reacts badly in the worst case, if this craving is denied for too long."

"What would that mean?" "Well, at first, he would show overly emotionalism, like bursting into tears at random occasions, or in situations, in that he normally wouldn't cry. Then, he would most likely get easier than normal sick, as his body shuts down. In the worst case, the pressure might become too much for his – naturally weaker – body and he might die." The eyes of the two mobians widened in utter shock.

"A-are you trying to say, that we have to leave Sonic here, or he dies?" Knuckles had problems to handle the new information. This was most certainly a situation, where muscles and fighting couldn't do anything to solve this.

"Well, you could always try to find a mate for him on your own, but as all semes out there are most likely already quite frustrated in...ahem... a sexual way, he might end up with someone he won't like, once mating season is over."

The two friends looked at each other, unsure of what to do. "How about a tour through our institution and a detailed explanation of what we do here? Maybe it helps you decide.," Bryan suggested with an understanding smile. "I-is this really okay?," Tails asked, still a little shaken up from the new development.

"But of course! We have nothing to hide. I would just ask you not to shout, as long as you are inside. The ukes are easily scared, as you know now yourself, and if they have a mate, the semes get quickly aggressive, as they are overly protective. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Okay, sure, that should be possible." "Thanks for your understanding. After you." They stood up and stepped inside the hall, where a mobian cat receptionist sat in the middle of the room behind a desk and typed on her computer, not looking up. The room had a simple white color, but looked still calming and bright.

"This way, please." Prof. Bryan led them through a door at the other end of the hall. They came into a long hallway with doors on one side and glass walls on the other. Behind the glass was a large garden with grass, some trees, and lots of flowers. On the doors on the other side were little tags with names on it.

"So...what are you doing here?," Knuckles asked after a while, reading the tags on the doors they passed with mild interest.

"We take care of ukes and semes and try to get them together, so the ukes are well protected." "And how are you getting them together?" "After we found out, if the hedgehogs are semes or ukes, we give them questionnaires..."

"You think, a few questions will help you matching two persons?," Knuckles interrupted, raising a brow. "A few questions, no. A few thousands instead, yes." "A few thousand!? Are you asking for their last meal and their dream from three years ago?," Knuckles asked in shock.

"No, we ask them, how they would react in this and that situation, but also some questions on their lifestyle: eat and sleep patterns, favorites, dislikes, etc. Ukes and semes alike have a week time to answer the questions. After that, their answers are typed in our supercomputer, that analyses them and looks for matches. Is the match over 90%, we let uke and seme meet. Of course, this isn't any guarantee for a relationship. We watch the newly matched couple carefully and let one of our psychologists be there for them in case they need advice. In the best case, they are a perfect match and leave this institute a few weeks after coming here, in the worst case, the match wasn't right and we keep both here, until they have found their second half." He led them through another hallway while talking.

"How long...will this...this matchmaking take?," Tails asked. "Until now...it didn't take longer than six to eight weeks." "Does mating season last this long for hedgehogs?," Knuckles asked.

"No, it doesn't, but this isn't a problem. Due to mating season being already here, the perfect match will be found quickly. It will be the only male who doesn't react to his scent as strongly as the others."

Tails and Knuckles let Bryan show them everything: the rooms for the ukes and the semes, the garden, the kitchen, big enough for hundreds with Sonic's appetite, the rooms, where the hedgehogs could spent their time... It was...perfect...

* * *

Amy just sneaked out of Sonic's room, having the blue hero only a few seconds ago convinced to sleep, when she heard the front door open.

She came downstairs and feared the worst, when she saw Tails crying. "Is it so bad?," she asked, worried. Tails just walked in the living room without a word and fell face first on the couch, crying some more.

"Quite the contrary, the place is ideal for Sonic.," Knuckles answered for his little friend. "So you decided to bring him there after all? Then...why the tears? Did you say something there Tails didn't approve of?" "No, nothing like that. We learned, that Sonic might die, if we wait much longer. Tails as his only relative made the decision. We've agreed. They'll pick him up once Sonic feels better. Then we won't see him for a while, as visitors for an uke during mating season are forbidden." "Oh."


	4. Paradise

Surprise! As my last chapter was fairly short and quite boring (though necessary!), I thought, I'll give you the next one, too. Besides, Sonadow starts here, so why let you wait any longer? Have fun!

 **4: Paradise**

Sonic needed a few days to recover from the fever. During this time, his friends stayed by his side, as if it was the last time they would see him. They didn't think much about it, but they all, besides Sonic, had a bad feeling. Maybe it was just dread or discomfort, because they wouldn't see each other for a while and wouldn't be able to talk with him, too. Of course, it was for the best, for him and all, but... well, they couldn't name this 'but'.

Tails told Sonic about everything he knew about the institute. Sometimes, the exhausted hedgehog would fall asleep during his descriptions, but Tails continued, as he needed to convince himself. Amy would chat with Sonic as much as he could, Knuckles would just sit with him and Cream would shower him with flowers and pictures she drew for him.

* * *

Three days later, Sonic was as well as he could be in his condition and Tails called Prof. Bryan.

Only an hour later, a limousine parked in front of the house of the brothers and Sonic stepped out. According to Bryan, he wouldn't need anything, as they had plenty of clothes and supplies, but if there would be a need, they would be able to get it themselves. After a last goodbye-hug for Tails and a bro-fist for Knuckles, Sonic got in before Bryan and they drove off.

Tails looked after the car with a knot in his stomach. The tears, that he had held back in the last days for Sonic's sake, now fell freely. Knuckles hugged him in a comforting way, being as gentle as he could be. "We've done the right thing.," he said, what he had said the last few days to the younger one. "Then why does it feel so wrong?," the heartbroken fox whispered in his fur.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic sat in the limousine. He had never before been in a car, as he normally ran. Therefore, he was pretty nervous and had a hard time with keeping his quills down, so he wouldn't shred his seat.

He jumped a little, when he heard a noise. His head whipped around, but it was only a mini bar the professor had opened. He poured a red liquid out of a carafe in a cup and gave it to Sonic, who hesitated to take it.

"It's just tea. Many ukes are nervous, when they get to us. It'll calm you down." "Oh. Okay, thanks." Sonic took the cup and sipped it. The tea wasn't hot anymore and he could drink it easily. Once the warm liquid reached his stomach, he felt better and he drank more, until the cup was emptied. Finally relaxed, he gave the cup back and leaned back without cutting the seat.

"Well done." He looked up, still strangely relaxed, even though the voice had come out of nowhere. Somewhere in his mind, he was startled to see the stranger in the back of the car, who he only noticed now, that he spoke, and who switched on a light, that illuminated his figure.

It was another human, but pretty old. He had neatly combed white hair, a wrinkled face with a wicked smile and a maniac-like glare behind his round glasses. He wore a lab coat and had a walking stick with a skull shaped ivory tip in his hand.

"It really was a challenge to get you, you know?," he spoke again, his voice cold and merciless. This didn't sound good, but his body refused to tense. Oh no... "W-what...d-did you d-d-do?," he asked, his voice slurred.

"Don't worry, it was just a drug to make you sleep. I don't want you to get a heart attack during the transport, right?," the man asked with a cruel chuckle. "T-transport?" "But yes, I have big plans with you." The dark eyes of the other shimmered in the darkness.

Sonic's body grew heavy, too heavy to move. This was just too much after all he had been through the last few days. His eyes closed and the last thing he saw, were the two wickedly grinning humans...

* * *

When Sonic woke up again, he lay on something cold and hard. Groaning, he opened his eyes and was met with a dimly lit room. Only through a small crack above him on his left came a little light.

He looked around and his heart rate sped up, when he noticed movements. Slowly and on guard, he moved to sit up. His eyes got used to the little light and he noticed, that he was in a windowless and – to his great worry – door-less room with about twenty other people.

No, not people. Hedgehogs. Male hedgehogs. He looked down and noticed, that his clothes were gone. The others were naked, too. He quickly drew his legs closer and hugged them to keep them there, while the others didn't seem to know shame.

The only thing they wore was a collar. He touched his neck with one hand and felt a metal collar there, too. He tried to rip it off, but a strong electric pulse shot through his body and he yelped and let quickly go.

"Don't try it." He flinched and looked around. A bit away from him sat a hedgehog who seemed to have gray fur. It was hard to say in this twilight. "Those blasted things are so programmed, that you'll get electrocuted, if you try to remove it. Believe me, it's better to just let it be."

"Who are you? What is this place?," Sonic asked, his voice nearly cracking. Before the other hedgehog could answer, the whole room shook and made a violent movement, that nearly threw him against the wall.

"W-what was that?," Sonic panicked. "Relax, it's just a wave." "W-wave?" "We're transported on a ship right now."

"To where?" "On a small island, where nobody lives. They call it _Paradise_." "Why are we going there? Who's _they_?"

"We are going there to mate." "Mate? I...I don't want to!" So they were all ukes... The hedgehog chuckled tiredly. "Once we're there, you will. They drug us with stuff, that makes you crave sex once we're there." "But...that's wrong!"

"Of course it is, but those humans don't care about it. Just go out there and make sure you get pregnant. Don't fight and it won't hurt that much."

"I won't do that for sure! Why are they doing that?" "They want pups. Our pups. Once they're born, they take them from us and we don't see them ever again."

The foreign uke seemed pretty mindless to Sonic, he must've been here for a long time, but he didn't want to ask and make him sad.

He just sat there, taking in the rocking of the waves and the coldness of the metal room they were in and the fate, that he was moving towards right now.

* * *

A very sharp pain in his neck let Sonic wake up with a scream. He shot up, barely aware of the fact, that he had fallen asleep, and looked around. The same dimly lit room, but this time, all hedgehogs stood there with their faces to the wall on his left side. The room wasn't moving anymore.

"Not the nicest wake up call, huh?" The hedgehog he had talked to before stood next to him.

"What was that?," Sonic asked, trying to rub his sore throat under the collar. "As I said, they drugged us. In the collars are needles full with a concentrated drug. Once injected, you feel the effect after a few minutes and get horny as hell."

Sonic jumped, when the left wall fell loudly on the ground, flooding the room with bright light. The other hedgehogs walked stiffly out on a small beach in front of a jungle. Sonic didn't want to follow, but the wall on the opposite side moved towards the exit and forced him out, until the metal container was completely closed with the former opposite wall.

He turned around and looked at the other ukes. His throat went dry. They looked horrible! They were thin, so much, that he could see their ribs, they missed fur here and there and had deep scars on their bodies.

He then looked around the location and saw more containers left and right from their container, but those were much smaller.

"What are those?," he asked the hedgehog he had talked to before and pointed to the containers. The other had light red fur, as he could now see. He looked with blue eyes in the pointed direction.

"In there are the semes. They get drugged, too, but it takes the drugs longer to work, as they are stronger. You should look for a place, that's comfortable to mate, it spares you some injuries. Hurry up and get pregnant, in twelve hours they come and get us again, to take us back to the Island." With that he turned to walk away and most likely to find this aforementioned place, like the others did, too.

"The Island?" Sonic repeated, holding him back. The hedgehog looked at him with a bitter expression. "This is Paradise. The Island is hell.," he simply said.

* * *

Tails tried and tried, but he couldn't concentrate. It was too quiet in the house without Sonic. He was gone for about twenty-four hours and it was, as if the soul of this house had disappeared with him.

Normally, he would have already asked him to do something or to go out and tease Knuckles or something along those lines, but now... Nothing. Just silence. Smothering silence.

Knuckles was back on Angel Island and Amy and Cream minded their own business. And he himself? He tried to work on an invention, on his...on Sonic's...plane, but...he...he couldn't. His head was empty.

New tears gathered in his eyes, while he sat on their couch in the living room. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Huh?" His ears perked. He stood up, wiped his tears away and walked to the door to open it.

He was surprised to see Vanilla and Cream on the other side. Vanilla had a big basket under her arm. "Hello Tails, do you want to go with us? We want to make a picnic in the park.," Cream smiled.

"Oh...er...sure! I...I just need a minute, be right back!" With that, Tails closed the door and ran to his room to change his gloves and socks and to groom his fur a little to not look too bad.

He stopped in his tracks, when he caught a glimpse of a frame, that stood on his desk littered with blueprints and books about engines and stuff like that. He walked over to the desk and lifted the frame up, closer to his face. It was a picture of him and Sonic, taken by Amy about a year ago.

They had had a day in the park back then and Amy had taken the picture of the brothers sleeping peacefully in the shadow of a tree, after a long picnic containing lots of chilidogs. Him, curled up and nearly hidden by his fluffy tails and Sonic next to him on his back, the hands behind his head. It were peaceful times.

He sighed and put it back. "I hope you're okay in this institute. I can't wait to have you back.," he thought and went to get ready.

* * *

"Note to self: climbing without gloves is painful. Ow...," Sonic muttered and looked down on his hands, that were littered with small bleeding cuts and dirt. His bare feet were probably looking worse.

He still didn't want anyone to touch him – or worse, impregnate him – so he had looked for a safe place. Unfortunately, those humans had done more, than giving him a collar. Somehow, he couldn't run fast anymore. Those bastards must've done that to make sure one of those semes would get him.

Right now, he stood on top of a big rock, the only one on this island. From here, he could overlook the whole place. Besides, a little under him was a small crack in the rocky surface, through that he could squeeze and hide. It wouldn't help him get away from those guys, though. Not only did he see many cameras in trees and bushes on his way, but the island was also too small to hide for long.

He was maybe in the middle of the island, it was about half a kilometer long and a little less wide. Most of it was jungle, all around him and the beach full with containers. The seme containers still looked closed, he must've been faster, than he had thought.

In the distance, on the deep blue sea, he could see a large ship anchoring there. It was for sure the one, that had brought them here. He could also see two speed boats driving wide circles around the island. To stop those, who tried to flee, he assumed.

Those guys were better organized than Eggman and it worried him. Eggman always made mistakes, that he could use for his advantage – but here, he couldn't find a flaw... He shook his head and sighed. He shouldn't think like that. He would find a way out. Somehow.

A loud shout let him flinch. He looked around, alert, until he noticed, that the noise came from somewhere under the rock. He laid down on his belly and pushed himself to the tip, so he could see past it and on the ground.

His blood ran cold. Under him were two hedgehogs. The smaller one was the red furred one he had talked to earlier. He was on his hands and knees with his face to the rock Sonic was lying on. He moaned and cried, while a taller hedgehog with brown fur was behind him, ramming into the smaller male mercilessly, while scratching him with his long claws, reopening some of his scars and adding new ones and biting in his neck so hard, that blood streamed from it and pooled together with the blood from the other wounds under him, mixing with his tears and saliva, that streamed also freely. Both hedgehogs moaned because of the lust the drugs forced them to feel.

Sonic felt the urge to vomit. He retreated, hiding in the hole he had found, pressing his hands against his ears to block the noises of the forced mating out.

According to the red hedgehog, that was raped in front of his hideout, he should be horny right now, too, but he wasn't. Maybe he was immune, or something. Tails had once said, that he had an impressive metabolism, meaning his body digested everything he ate, drank and even got injected into him much faster than others. It was useful, if he was poisoned, as the substance would be rendered faster harmless, than it could cause him problems. Maybe it was also like that with drugs.

He sighed again and took one of his hands off his ear. Still moaning. He shut his hearing off again and leaned back. Twelve hours like that to be captured by humans and brought to _hell_. Great.

He jumped, when something grabbed his shoulder painfully hard. He turned around quickly and saw an orange hedgehog behind him. He was drooling and his pupils were so big he couldn't make out his eye color. The most shocking was his length, that was out of its sheath, throbbing and leaking pre, that was uncomfortably close to his face. Sonic had never before seen another one's cock and he wasn't keen on seeing it any longer. The stranger growled and yanked his arm he had grabbed, trying to get him closer to his hard-on.

Sonic, knowing what he wanted, ripped his arm out of his grip before he could succeed and stood up, as good as he could, as the cave wasn't the roomiest one. "Leave me alone!," he snarled. The stranger didn't listen. He tried to grab him again, this time receiving a kick. "Cut it out already!," Sonic hissed and managed to throw the attacker out of the cave.

* * *

Unbeknownst to him, the hedgehog was watched through a camera hidden in the cave. Jester Perringten, the head of this organization and the old man Sonic had seen in the limousine, smirked, while sitting in his comfortable chair in the middle of the room, watching the many monitors around him, that showed parts of paradise.

On many were mating hedgehogs or simply nature, just this one, the one of the only cave on paradise, was different. In there was a lone hedgehog, that kept another seme out, the third by now.

"Resistant, huh?," he grinned, before turning to the employee, who controlled the containers from afar.

"Number 125 is still contained, correct?," he asked. They gave the hedgehogs numbers, that were on a tag on their collars and only called them like that.

The younger human turned around to him. "Yes, Sir." "Let him out." "Sir?" The young man asked and some others, who had heard that, looked up, confused.

Number 125 was one of the most dangerous semes they had! Along with number 243 and 101, those three had never mated an uke, but had killed everyone, who had tried to come closer to them – uke or seme. Even semes they took on with ease. Number 143 and 101 weren't sent out anymore for reasons they didn't ask about, while 125 was sent out still, but kept contained, until his collar would submit a change in his system by the sounds and scents from outside, as the drugs didn't work, no matter how much he got. Until now, no such luck with this try. On top, he always went to the cave the blue hedgehog number 299 was in. They were bound to meet and it wouldn't end well for number 299. It took their boss so long to get him – why risking to lose him?

"You heard me. Keep a careful eye on the cave. If 125 shows any signs of aggression, knock him out with the sleeping injection in his collar." "Yes, Sir!" And he pressed the button labeled 125.

* * *

Black furred ears perked, when one wall of the container, that their owner had been trapped in for so long, fell in the sand. Red eyes blinked in the sunlight, as if they saw it for the first time in years.

Shadow growled annoyed, but stepped out, not in the mood to get pushed by a stupid metal wall. He stretched, hearing something in his back pop. He just had taken a nap, too used to the pain of the injections to feel it anymore.

"Why did they let him out? Normally, he was shipped here and simply kept contained. He had maybe killed too many of their precious breeders to be let out. It wasn't like he was evil. It had been... like an instinct.

He didn't even remember killing those ukes and semes. Only his rage, then... nothing. And waking up, covered in the smell of blood, but with damp, clean fur, in his cell. Some memories had come back after a while and... well, he wouldn't let himself out anymore. So why letting him out now? He hadn't bothered trying to control this anger and it wasn't, as if he was suddenly horny like everyone else here. Maybe it had been an accident.

Whatever, in a few hours he would feel the sting of the injection, that would make him sleep and then wake up in his cell, alone again. He already figured, that semes like him weren't kept together, they would most likely kill each other, if there wasn't enough space for them. Ukes were always brought here with one container, they seemed to have no problem with being among other ukes.

As he didn't plan on mating anything, he walked over to his cave to be left alone. On the way, his thoughts wandered to the past. He had been created by a scientist, who had tried to save his granddaughter's life with his help. How he should have done that, was beyond him and he would never learn it. The military organization GUN had thought, that he was a weapon and had attacked the space station he had been created on, killing everyone on board, including the girl he had been supposed to save. She had sent him to Mobius with her last breath, where he had been found by GUN and put into stasis.

Fifty years had he spent there, until the current Commander had decided to let him out, a few years ago. He had wanted to kill everyone on sight, once he had seen the uniformed soldiers, but the commander had told him, that the killing of everyone on the space station had been a terrible mistake. This had stopped him and he had listened to him. After getting some diaries of his creator and reading them, he had decided to join GUN, but he had never lost his distrust. He knew, that the commander wanted to use him like the weapon he saw in him, but he wouldn't do this.

His creator had wished for him to protect everyone on this planet and that's what he...had planned to do. Now, he was nothing but a seme to those humans – that would be great friends with the Commander, he would bet – and there was nothing he could do against it.

Like every other hedgehog here, he wore a collar, but his did more than giving those needles free access to his neck. He had been powerful. Fast, strong, he had had Chaos powers.

And it was all gone. Maybe he had only his immortality left, it was hard to say. He hadn't been hurt so far – not counting the injections and bruises he got from the security, when he was strapped on one of those tables, where he got more injections – so he couldn't say, if his healing ability was still there.

Shadow made a disgusted face, when he heard faint moaning. The whole island smelled and sounded like sex. It had been ages, since he had had the chance to talk properly with someone. Was somebody even missing him? He must've been gone for months...

He remembered, it had been a mission, for GUN. Just arresting a criminal. He and his team, a white bat named Rouge, who joined GUN to not be put in jail, and a killer robot named Omega, whose priority number one was making sure, that he didn't do anything stupid, had found the criminal's location in an old warehouse. They had split up – he always let Rouge and Omega go together, so the bat, who he counted as his only and very close friend, was protected by Omega. He remembered finding the body of the criminal, a sting in his neck... and then, he had been in this container...

He jumped, when he heard a scream, that was different from the shouts he normally heard here.

"GET OUT!" He was already at the rock with his cave and he looked up just in time to see, how a seme came flying out of the cave and landed hard on his back on the ground in front of him.

Shadow was surprised. All of the ukes and semes were too drugged by now to even spell 'I'. Who was this? He growled at the slowly rising seme, who quickly ran away to find another uke, ignored the two hedgehogs at the foot of the rock, that were exhaustedly humping, still in the spell of the drugs, that urged them to continue, and started to climb.

He was still very agile, although he didn't have much exercise lately. In no time he reached the cave entrance and looked carefully inside.

His mouth fell open. At first, he thought it was a female. A male hedgehog with blue fur, that sparkled in the light shining through the cave entrance. He had peach fur on his arms and belly, green eyes and a quite feminine body with curvy hips, a good figure and long quills, that were bent down. He was...quite attractive, he had to say. What angered him, was a deep scratch wound on his right arm. Besides, he looked pretty exhausted.

Shadow jumped, when he was met with the glare of the hedgehog, though it didn't contain just rage, but also fear and desperation.

"Leave me alone! Get it in your heads, I don't want to mate!," he hissed, slightly panting. The poor thing wasn't strong enough anymore to fight another male off.

So he was an uke! But...why did he fight and not submit like the countless others? And something more he noticed: his collar, it looked like his own! So... was he special, like him?

Shadow noticed, that he had been in his thoughts for too long and was unsettling the weakened male greatly. Quickly, he spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!".

* * *

Sonic blinked. "Y-you talk!," he stammered. The other chuckled lightly. "Well, yes.," he smiled. Sonic didn't know, what to say. All the other males he met so far – it had been twelve, with the first one – had been too high to utter a letter, not to mention a whole, correct sentence! But...this one...

He was a black hedgehog with red stripes on his arms and legs, that went over his middle fingers and his middle toes. His quills were bent upright and had also stripes on them. He had a big tuft of white chest fur under the chin of his tan colored muzzle. The chest fur wasn't groomed and had turned slightly gray, but it looked fluffy. The most catching thing of this hedgehog were his ruby red eyes.

Sonic noticed, that he had been quiet for too long and quickly composed himself. "S-sorry... it's just, the others don't talk..." "It's the drugs. They mess with their brains and affect their mental condition."

"D-didn't they drug you?," Sonic asked carefully. "They did, it just doesn't affect me." The dark hedgehog shrugged.

"Er...do you want...to come in? I...I'm not affected by this stuff, too.," Sonic invited, slightly wondering, why he didn't fear this male, even though he felt weaker than ever. Maybe because he was immune, like him...but, he couldn't shake off the feeling, that he...liked this hedgehog...somehow...

"If it's alright with you...just one more thing..." The stranger came suddenly quickly closer to him. Sonic cowered away in fear, knowing, that he couldn't fight him off anymore. His ears perked, when he heard, how something scraped over stone above him.

* * *

"Sir, he has found the camera!," the young employee informed. "I see that myself." "Should I sedate number 125?" "No, no need to. Just let them be. But radio Dr. Stance. He shall inform me immediately about number 299, when he got his check up." "Yes, Sir!" Perringten smirked, while the monitor of the camera in the cave went black.

* * *

Sonic looked up and saw, that the other hedgehog had raised his arm towards the ceiling of the cave and held something in his hand. His eyes widened: a camera! He hadn't noticed it. The other male crushed the camera and threw it out of the cave.

"I'm always here, when they send us on this island and I get free. They always replace this camera. I'm sorry for scaring you, I just wanted it gone." "It's okay. But why should they watch us?" "To make sure, that nobody of the ukes gets killed. It seems, as if they are very precious to those humans."

"Yeah...one of the ukes said, that they want us pregnant to...do something with the pups.," Sonic explained. "Sounds typical for those sadists.," the other replied dryly. "How can they prevent, that the ukes are getting killed? I mean, they are so far away..."

"True, but we semes don't wear these collars for fun. They not only drug us into a sex craze, they also inject us with something, that makes us sleep, once they come to bring us back. I think, they handle the ukes different. I don't know it for sure. I'm barely let out of this container." "Why?," Sonic asked confused.

Before the other could answer, he noticed a movement in the cave entrance. It was another seme, who tried to sneak in on the blue uke. He snarled warningly at the stranger, who quickly retreated. Sonic got a little scared and turned in the direction the other had snarled into. Just in time, he saw the retreating seme, before he disappeared out of sight. The other had protected him...

He turned around to the dark seme. "You haven't answered my question.," he said, feeling a little more comfortable around him.

The stranger looked a little insecure now. "Please don't get scared... I...well, I am always contained because I...killed...a few of the ukes and semes a few weeks ago, while being on this island..."

Sonic moved a little back. "Y-you did?," he asked, scared anyway. Would he try it with him, too? Then why did he protect him?

"It wasn't my fault.," the dark hedgehog reassured him. "The semes attacked me, although I tried to avoid them and the ukes wanted to rape me to get relief. I got mad...and it happened. I regret it, really."

Sonic relaxed, he somehow knew, that he was telling the truth. "It's... alright, I guess. What's your name by the way?," he asked, while wondering just why he was so forgiving towards the other male...

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. I hadn't had anyone to talk to in a long time. My name's Shadow. And what is yours?" "I'm Sonic." "Like...Sonic the Hedgehog? The hero?," Shadow asked curiously. Sonic's ears pressed against his skull and he nodded sadly. "Pretty pathetic, huh?," he mumbled.

"No, it isn't." Shadow sat down opposite from him. "Those bastards are very good organized, you couldn't prevent it."

Sonic sighed. Tears welled in his eyes and suddenly, he sobbed. "I don't want to be here! I don't want to get pregnant! I just want to go home!," he cried.

* * *

Shadow watched him with pity. The poor male was totally exhausted, mentally and physically. He was new here, he could tell by looking at him. He was just slightly underfed and didn't have any scars yet. It was only natural to be scared of a place like this.

He crept closer to the weeping uke and very carefully took him in his arms. Usually, he wasn't the hugging type, but...this seemed to be an instinct.

Sonic stiffened at first, not expecting this gesture, but then he relaxed, accepting the hug and crying in the other's chest fur.

"It's okay. I won't let anyone hurt you.," Shadow said, stroking his quills gently. Again, he acted without thinking. How could he possibly protect him, when he couldn't even help himself? "You promise?," Sonic asked with a weak, trembling voice and Shadow's doubts vanished in thin air, just like that. "Yes, I do."

They stayed like that, Sonic curled up in Shadow's tight embrace, until the latter heard quiet breathing. The blue hedgehog had given in to exhaustion and was now sleeping peacefully. A little pride welled up in Shadow's chest: Sonic trusted him enough to fall asleep in his arms. It made him quite happy, although he couldn't name, why.

Carefully, he leaned the sleeping male against the cave wall and examined his injured arm. The scratches didn't bleed anymore and weren't as deep, as they had looked like, but he didn't want them to get infected. Gently, he lifted his arm and licked the wound clean, knowing, that his saliva would disinfect the injury. Sonic didn't react to the cleaning, which meant, that he didn't hurt him. Somehow, this was important for him.

When he was done, he sat next to the uke and put an arm around his shoulders to keep him close. He didn't know anything about ukes and semes, but he figured, that he was falling for this little hedgehog in his arm. And he didn't care. It felt right.

* * *

Twelve hours after the hedgehogs had been sent to Paradise, men with guns came there with a boat. Their guns were loaded with sedative arrows for the ukes. While it was dangerous to try and sedate a seme like that, it was very easy with ukes. They were already too weak to put up a fight thanks to the mating, the semes had in comparison to that lots of energy, even after hours of sex.

The troops swarmed over the island, sedating the already slumbering ukes for the transport with one or two shots, as they saw fit. Then, one of them brought the ukes and semes back to the beach and into their containers, while the other looked for other couples to collect.

After a good hour, there was only one couple left. Number 299 and 125. One of the men climbed up to the cave, while some others watched him, in case something happened.

Of course, they didn't expect anything like that. It was just an uke after-

They were quite surprised and shocked, when the man, who went to the cave, got thrown out and landed in front of their feet on his back. "Damn, did they not refill the needles of 125?!," one shouted. "N-no..." The man on the ground groaned. "It's...299..." Then, he passed out.

The others looked at each other. The UKE had overpowered a human!? "Alright, then we go all up there. You two distract him, while we both shoot him. Now go!," one of the four remaining men ordered and they started climbing.

The two, who should distract the uke, were there first. They were astounded to see the blue hedgehog standing protectively in front of the knocked out seme, the quills raised to appear taller – which worked just fine for the humans, who were literally at his feet right now – and he was snarling at the intruders with bared fangs, his piercing glare daring them to come even an inch closer.

The uke got distracted by the two watching him, though, and didn't notice the two guns on his other side, not even after four shots rang through the silence and four of the arrows buried themselves in the body of the quickly collapsing uke.

"Alright, this was it. Get the two and then we're heading back.," one of the two, who shot, said, put away his gun and climbed down. The two, who had been the distraction, crouched in the cave and got the two hedgehogs out, while the other two got their comrade, who was still unconscious. Most of the men had sour faces, as the uke did cause them so much problems. Only one, the one who carried the uke, looked...utterly confused...

* * *

Oh dear, things aren't going well for the two hedgehogs (and the many others). What comes next? Next week you'll see! Maybe I manage to upload already on Saturday, otherwise it will be of course on Sunday. Have a nice weekend!


	5. The angel in Hell

Again a short chapter, I know. This one here is mainly for the introduction of a new character. To make it up to you, I'll give you the next chapter tomorrow (it'll contain Sonadow again, promise).

* * *

 **5: The angel in Hell**

When Sonic woke up again, the world seemed a blur. He tried to open his eyes to escape this tossing and turning darkness behind his eyelids, but he couldn't... He felt, that the ground under him moved and was cold and hard and he heard a voice, that yelled something.

Then, the moving stopped and he tried to gather his bearings, but he couldn't, his mind refused to work. He flinched, when a voice shouted, "Next!". The ground moved again, but only shortly, before it stopped again. He was confused – what was going on?

It was quiet for a while and he tried again to get his body to work, but it just wouldn't happen. He was trapped, fully awake, in his unmovable body... It made him nervous like hell.

"Next!," the voice sounded again, this time pretty close to him and he felt again this moving, this time with a slight bump for whatever reason, before it stopped again.

"Ah, yes.," he heard the voice again, it was a male's. "Number 299, I've heard of it. Get it on the table." Sonic heard, how something above him creaked and suddenly, he was grabbed by his scruff like a kitten and placed on something cold, on his back, when he felt that right, it was hard to say, as disoriented, as he was right now...

"Let's see..." At once, he felt, how something was shoved painfully fast and deep in his butt and he cried out, which luckily made this thing leave his body again and he tried to get air in his lungs. Instead, his stomach lurched and he had just enough time to turn his head before he vomited, sadly only stomach acid, as he hadn't eaten in a while. It burnt his throat.

"Just great. How much of the sedatives did you give it!?" The voice he had heard before sounded grossed out and annoyed. "Four doses, sir." "FOUR!? Have you lost your mind!? It's an uke, not a seme! Its body can't take that much! You poisoned it! I swear, if you killed it, I won't take the responsibility!"

He just lay there in pain, trying not to cry, while his whole body hurt like hell. His ears perked weakly, when he heard some clicking noises and then, how the voice from before said, "Doctor Ellen, I need you in Ex_3! Now!". He shouted, maybe in a mobile.

Some minutes passed, in that he only heard muttering, that he couldn't identify, while he silently wept in pain. Then, he heard a slight hissing sound and a female voice asked: "What's wrong with him?" Unlike the man, she didn't call him an 'it'.

He heard, how someone came closer, felt, how gentle hands examined him, prodded here and there on his body, felt his forehead. "An overdose with sedatives. Four doses.," the first voice answered, annoyed.

"Four?!" The woman sounded worried. A finger lifted one of his eyelids and he saw a blurry figure and then a light, that blinded him, before the finger allowed his eyelid to slip close again. He heard someone walk away and come back soon after and felt a light sting in his arm, from an injection, he guessed.

"I hope, this works.," he heard the woman mumble, before she spoke out loud, "He needs to be moved to the ward." "Impossible, Perringten wants it on the next tour!"

"In the first place, he wants the ukes healthy enough to carry offspring – and this one won't even survive the mating in this condition. He'll stay in the ward, did I make myself clear?," the woman asked coldly. Sonic heard the gritting of teeth. "Fine! But this one's still a virgin, so you better hurry up with fixing it!"

"Medicine isn't witchcraft, thank you very much.," the woman replied and Sonic felt, how he was gently lifted and carried. Then, his tired mind couldn't take it anymore and he passed out.

* * *

When he awoke again, he lay on something soft and warm and was also covered with a blanket. His head hurt and he felt weak and sick. He pried his eyes open and was met with a white ceiling.

Sonic blinked, until everything was in focus again and noticed, that he was in a ward and lying in a bed. There were five more beds next to him, but all empty.

He wanted to sit up, when he noticed, that he couldn't move his hands properly. He looked down and saw, that his hands were strapped with thick leather straps to the railing of the bed. He tucked at them, but no matter how hard he did it, he couldn't get free. He tried moving his legs and they were strapped as well. He leaned back, willing away new tears. He hated this!

Sonic's ears perked upon hearing someone talk. The voices came closer and he quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be still asleep. He tried to listen in the conversation, but he heard only some pieces: "...fever...a while... no..." "...tomorrow...last word..."

Then silence, until he heard the typical hissing of a door, that opened automatically. Steps came closer to him and he forced himself to relax. He stiffened a little, when he felt something cool touching his forehead. A hand, a human hand, he realized. "What have you gotten yourself into, Kylie?," he heard the female voice from before. Sonic felt the hand on his forehead petting him a little, before letting go and he heard her walking away from him.

He carefully opened an eye to take a look at the female. It was a human with long black hair in a lab coat. He couldn't see more, as she had turned away from him. She was walking in sneakers to the other end of the room and went through an automatic door there. The door closed and he was alone again. He tried again to free himself, but he just couldn't make it. Life hated him, huh?

The door opened again and he quickly pretended to be still unconscious. He heard, how the woman came closer again and suddenly felt, how something carefully parted his lips a little and something lukewarm trickled in his mouth. He swallowed and tasted salt and some other flavors. A broth! Food!

He opened his eyes and saw the woman, who stopped with another spoon full of broth in midway. She had brown eyes and was about forty years old, he estimated. She looked at him surprised, before she put the spoon back in a bowl and put it on a little table next to the bed. "How are you feeling?," she asked in a friendly way and with a gentle smile.

Sonic blinked. She was so nice... "G-good...I guess...," he managed to say. "That's good to hear." The woman stood up, bent over him and undid the leather strap around his right wrist. Then, she freed his other hand, that was closer to her.

With his mouth pretty much agape, he sat up, a little happy to be partly free again. "I'm sorry, I can't loose the others. I'm actually not allowed to free you at all, but here aren't cameras and I refuse to treat you like those assholes. Just make sure to appear bound, in case someone comes, okay?," the woman smiled. It didn't sound, as if she did this for the first time.

Sonic just nodded, still speechless. "Good. Here." She gave him the bowl with the broth. Hungrily, he devoured the fluid in mere minutes, trusting the woman, that it wasn't poisoned. He couldn't explain it, but he somehow knew, that she wouldn't harm him... "Is there more!?," he asked, once he was finished. "Sure. I'll get you some.," the woman replied.

She was just taking the bowl, when the door opened. Sonic quickly slipped back in the loose straps and pretended to be still asleep. He heard, how something was rolled in the room and opened one eye a little to try and see anything.

He saw two more humans, both men, who stood left and right of a bed on wheels they had brought in. On the bed he saw some green fur and quills and he noticed movement, as if the occupant of the bed was in pain and he heard soft moaning. The woman put the bowl down, joined them and looked down on the creature. The smell of fresh blood started to fill the room.

"What happened ?," the woman asked. "Broke through the restraints, killed two men and tried to kill itself.," the man with his back to Sonic replied with a monotone voice.

The woman took out a stethoscope and listened to something Sonic couldn't see. "He didn't want to commit suicide, but he had success.," he heard her mumble, too silent for the men to hear. "The pups are dead. Radio the surgery, they have to remove the bodies.," she said to the other two. "Yes!," the men replied in a chorus and Sonic quickly closed his eye again, while they wheeled the bed out.

Once the door was closed, he opened his eyes, slipped out of the restraints again and sat up. His stomach did a violent turn, when he saw the blood on the stethoscope, that the woman just cleaned, while he watched. "W-what happened?," he asked, trembling. "One of the ukes from the maternity ward broke through his restraints and killed the pups inside him.," she explained sadly.

Sonic swallowed dryly. "W-why was he restrained?" "Because he got pregnant through rape. They know, that ukes will try to kill the pups they conceived by force, if they don't restrain them. The poor things don't have any choice in this matter.," she sighed and put the stethoscope back in her lab coat's pocket.

Sonic felt suddenly cold. This was his future ? Being raped and then bound to a bed until these things got out...? And this...until when? He died!?

The growling of his stomach was his rescue – for the moment, he forgot about the future and concentrated on the present. "Er...can I have some more broth?," he asked, a little embarrassed. The woman smiled and went to fulfill his request.

* * *

Three more bowls, that the human doctor named Kylie Ellen brought to him, were necessary, until Sonic felt satisfied. Finally full, he lay back in the pillows.

Just a minute later, his whole predicament came back to him and he turned to the woman, who was busy counting bottles with pills in a drawer across the room and noting down their numbers.

"Why are you doing this?," he asked. "Hm?," Kylie replied, not looking up. "I'm counting the amounts of pills I have to-" "No. Not that." The woman looked up and turned around to him, confused. "This... whole... uke...seme...mating-thingy. Why are you doing this to us? Why are you kidnapping us and pump us full of drugs and want us to get pregnant so badly?," he asked.

Kylie swallowed. She pressed the list she had had close to her chest, as if she searched for comfort. "I wish I knew it.," she finally said with a sad voice. "I only care for the injured or sick ukes, I barely see anything else of this building besides the ward and my private chambers. I know, that my boss wants all of the ukes here to get pregnant again and again, but I have no idea, why. I have no idea, what he does with the pups or when or if he finally stops this madness, either.," she said sadly.

"If it's madness, why are you doing this?," Sonic asked. Kylie sighed. "Believe me, when I found out, what this is all about, I wanted nothing more than leaving this place. But I couldn't." "Why not?"

Kylie walked over to him and sat on the chair next to the bed. "I shouldn't talk about that with you. You have already enough problems.," she mumbled. "Come on, I would like to hear about something different than my problem right now.," Sonic said with a small smile.

The woman showed a weak smile of her own, before looking down on her hands. "I have a family, you know? I have two children and a husband. When Jester Perringten, the man I'm working for right now, found me, I was looking for a job as a vet. He paid good and I wanted my children to have the best, so I took the job. I didn't mind studying mobian hedgehogs for it and at first, I really believed this 'helping the poor ukes'-lie. But then...I saw, what he really did to the likes of you. How he broke them mentally and physically. I hated it and wanted to quit, but..." She bit her lip and started to tremble. "He threatened to kill them. My family.," she whispered.

"He didn't.," Sonic growled. "He did. And he's rich. Someone like him can make a murder look like an accident with ease. He promised to take care of them, as long as I do my job. I work here every day and have barely contact with them. They think I'm working in a secret military base with very strict rules. I try to help the ukes as best as I can, but I need to be careful. If someone finds out..." Kylie shuddered.

"I'm sorry." "Huh?" "I'm sorry, I thought you were as cruel as the others. But you aren't. I'm sorry for thinking that.," Sonic apologized. Kylie really wasn't anything like this Perringten, Prof. Bryan or this guy, who had called her, after he got sick. "Sometimes, I think I am one of those monsters. I'm working here for three years already and at times I...don't seem to care anymore. I hate this.," Kylie sighed. Well, he couldn't agree more.

"Is there no way to stop this?" "I wish I knew one. This is an island with not so many ways to communicate and I'm only rarely allowed on dry land. By now, he should trust me enough again not to send his spies after me, when I'm there. But even if I am on land, I don't know to whom I should go. I mean, who would believe me this story? And would know, what to do?" She combed through her hair with her fingers. "There is nothing we can do right now. And I hate it. And...I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" "I only managed to convince him to let you rest for today. Tomorrow, they want to bring you back to paradise." Sonic's ears pressed against his skull. "Oh. Well, thanks anyway. It's better than nothing.," he sighed.

Kylie didn't know what to do. She was usually good in cheering up people, but how could she do this, when there was only rape, pain and unwanted pregnancies in his future?

Sonic looked to the woman and saw clearly the distress in her eyes because HE was in distress. "Maybe this is hell. But there is an angel here, too.," he thought and right now, that and the thought of Shadow were his only comfort.

* * *

As I said, tomorrow comes already the next chapter, so just wait!


	6. What's going on?

**6: What's going on!?**

Sonic already knew, before he woke up, that he was again in the container to get shipped to Paradise. Kylie had given him the sedative to knock him out for the transport herself, to make sure, that nobody messed up with this.

She had given him bread and some ham for breakfast, as the ukes weren't fed very much, especially not, when they had yet to get impregnated. Thanks to the breakfast, the sedative hadn't taken effect right away and Kylie had tried her best to lighten the mood. And she really had had success, when their talk had gotten to Shadow. Sonic smiled in the container upon the memory.

Kylie had asked, if all the semes had been bad and he suddenly hadn't been able to stop himself and had talked about Shadow. The human doctor had listened with interest, as she was solely responsible for the ukes and had never been in contact with a seme. Everyone was convinced, that she couldn't handle one. But she had said, that she would like to meet him, as he seemed very nice. Shortly after that, he had been asleep.

Sonic looked up and around the container. It was most likely the same from before, judging by the size and the smell, but this time, there were much less ukes, only ten, if he counted himself in.

Kylie had explained to him, that each uke got three chances to get pregnant on Paradise. If they didn't get pregnant for the third time, they would be brought in another section of the Island and experimented on. Kylie had often enough treated ukes with injuries or poisonings to know that. Well, that explained, why he had been told to get pregnant. It had been a good advice of the other uke, he understood that now.

The whole room suddenly fell and landed on hard ground, making his spine hurt. Hard to believe, that he slept through this the last time. The sharp sting of the needles was next and he whimpered in pain. He hated this place more and more.

The wall fell in the sand and they got out. Sonic looked around and noticed, that there were as much containers of semes, as before. That would be about thirty semes for ten ukes – how should that work?

He decided to take shelter in the cave again and wait for Shadow. Maybe he would see him again, although the chance was slim. He had said, that he was barely let out, after all.

He quickly found the rock, but when he had climbed up to where the opening should have been, he was met with more rocks, that filled the cave completely. Sonic tried to dig his way through the rocks, but not even the first one moved, as if they were glued to each other, which was most likely the case. Those bastards had taken away the only shelter he had here. They really wanted him pregnant, huh?

Not wanting to give up, he climbed up to the top of the rock. From there, he would have an overview over everything, also every seme, that dared to come closer to him. He wouldn't let them win.

* * *

"Tails? Tails, where were you?," Amy asked, once the fox opened the door. "Sorry, I was in my lab. What's wrong?," the fox replied. The pink girl sighed. "It's just, I miss Sonic. I tried talking with Knuckles about it, but he said, that he didn't miss him at all."

"Come in.," Tails smiled. Thanks to Cream and Vanilla, he felt better and knew, that he wasn't alone. Amy, however, could use someone to talk about Sonic and he was happy to oblige.

They sat in the living room and Tails brought them two glasses of lemonade. "I really miss Sonic. I can't believe, that Knuckles not even thinks about him!," she fumed and drank from her glass.

"He's just stubborn. Believe me, he misses Sonic at least as much as me and you. He just doesn't want to admit it, so he won't be seen as weak.," Tails explained. Amy sighed again. "Sonic would've said something like 'Knux would never admit that he secretly LOOOVES me'." They both laughed, before Amy got sad again. "It's not the same without Sonic." "I agree. He's gone for three days and it already feels like years."

"Why are those idiots forbidding any contact? Don't they know, that he's missed?" Tails sighed now, too. "Amy, they explained it to us. Semes are very aggressive during mating season. They just attack everything, that comes close to their mates. It doesn't have to be Sonic's mate, it can be every seme there, even those without a mate." "Still, can't we write him a letter or send him something? Or call him?" "I asked that Dr. Bryan myself and he said no. It would only provoke jealousy."

Amy grunted, frustrated. "It's only two weeks. After that, we can see Sonic as often as we want again.," Tails soothed. Amy grinned. "And Knuckles is the first one to visit, I'm sure of it.," she chuckled.

* * *

About two hours had passed and no one of the semes had tried anything on him. They hadn't even tried to climb up to him.

Somehow, it unsettled the blue uke on the rock more, than it should. He had the feeling, that something was going on and, that he was the only one, who didn't know about it. Finally getting antsy, he climbed off the rock and decided to check out the beach for Shadow's container. It was better than sitting around and doing nothing.

He was just at the foot of the rock, when he heard snarling. He quickly turned around, ready to fight, but the noise wasn't meant for him. Two hedgehogs, most likely two semes, were fighting not too far away from him, slashing each other with their claws and trying to bite each other.

Sonic knew better, than trying to interfere, when he hadn't his strength and speed, so he simply sneaked past them. Strangely, those two weren't the only ones, that were battling. He came past four more battles, before he reached the beach.

He checked the containers, until he found a closed one. He came closer. "Shadow?," he asked.

"Sonic?," was the reply and Sonic felt something in his stomach flutter, as if there were hundreds of butterflies in it. "Yeah, it's me.," he grinned.

"It's so good to hear your voice!," Shadow said, before clearing his throat. "I-I mean...they don't let me out. You're a great distraction from the loneliness.," he corrected to keep the remains of his cool. "Yeah, I see it like you." "And I was worried. I was let out yesterday, but you weren't there. What happened?"

"Oh. Well...I got an overdose of sedatives. Seems like I slept for a day.," Sonic said, careful not to mention Kylie, in case some of the cameras were watching them. He didn't want to cause her trouble.

"An overdose?! How could this happen!? Normally, they are more careful!" Shadow sounded more upset, than Sonic had estimated. "It's okay, I survived, didn't I? And besides, it was...my fault."

"I doubt that." The response came immediately. "It was. When I woke up, I heard how someone came up to the cave and I couldn't wake you up. I forgot, that they had knocked you already out. I got panic and wanted to protect you and threw one of them out of the cave. Then they came with four men and shot also four arrows into me. Seems, like that was too much, from what I heard."

Shadow sighed in his container. "Sonic, please, don't do that again. Next time, it might not end this well." "Believe me, I'm not keen on being chained to a bed again.," Sonic grumbled, although Kylie hadn't chained him all day and night, until he had been knocked out. Again, he didn't want to betray her.

"They did that? I was never in the ward, I didn't know, that they take those measures. As if being in the middle of the ocean wasn't enough." Again, Shadow was far more upset, than Sonic would have expected. It somehow was... touching.

"Shads, relax, it's fine. It wasn't the most pleasant thing, but it could have been worse. I'm fine, okay?"

" _Shads_?," Shadow repeated. He sounded amused. Sonic blushed. "Heheh... sorry. I like giving others nicknames.," he apologized.

"I see. It's okay, really. I like it." "You do?" "Sure. It's better than _tall, dark and grumpy_ as Rouge likes to call me."

Sonic felt a slight pang in his chest upon hearing that, but remained calm. "Who's Rouge?," he asked casually. "My partner. We work together for a few years now." "I see. How is she like?" "Rouge? Hm...she's clever and knows a lot of tricks. She's a jewel thief and had to join GUN to escape prison."

"You work for GUN?" "Yeah." "Wow...I thought, GUN's quite corrupt and all..." "It is. You shouldn't have anything to do with that." "Then why do you?" "I promised my...father to protect this planet and although I don't approve with GUN's methods, they're good organized and find criminals all over the world. It's not the best, but the best I can do." "Yeah...though, when we get out of here, you should think about joining us."

" _If_ we get out of here, you mean." Shadow hated, that he was so negative, but his hopes of getting rescued have never been great and with every moment he had been here, it had gotten smaller, until it had been non-existent. He should be hopeful for Sonic's sake...but he couldn't.

"Cheer up, Shads! Sooner or later, someone notices, that we're missing. My friends will never give up on finding me." Somehow, he was cheerfuller, than in the last weeks. Maybe it was the breakfast, or something. Or being with Shadow. Or both.

Sonic jumped, when he heard something behind him. He turned around and saw a seme there. He was as hard and drugged as the others, but he stood with a little distance to him and held something in his claws. Sonic couldn't see what it was, but it dripped...a red liquid. Blood.

He swallowed before noticing, what the seme tried to do. He wanted to give him the bloody thing. This one seemed to try convincing him to sex by giving him a... gift? Whatever that thing was, it wasn't his definition of gifts.

The seme came closer, holding the thing out for him to take. "No!," Sonic said in a loud voice, making him stop. "Sonic? What's wrong!?," Shadow asked alarmed as he couldn't see, what was going on outside.

Sonic didn't reply, but focused on the confused looking seme. "I don't know, what this thing is, but I don't want it anywhere near me! Take it away! Bury it, throw it in the sea, I don't care. Just keep it away from me!," he said sternly. The seme blinked, before he obeyed and walked away.

Sonic sighed, but jumped anew, when he heard Shadow roar behind him. "SONIC!" "Gee, Shads, relax! I'm fine. One of those semes just wanted to...give me...something..." "What did he want to give you?" "Something, that looked freshly killed. Urgh. Luckily, he listened to me and took it away." "Maybe they messed with the drug portion and he has some sense left.," Shadow replied, shrugging. "I don't want to know, what sense he had to try and give me some bloody thing.," Sonic grumbled, disgusted. "I'm just glad, that he didn't try a move on you." "Tell me about it. Can I climb on your container for a while? I feel a little safer there."

The black hedgehog chuckled. "How could I stop you, even if I didn't want it?" Sonic scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Heheh...sorry." He climbed up the container, that was about 1.5 times as big as him, and sat on the flat top with a sigh.

"I wished, this thing was out of glass, I would have a great view.," he heard Shadow say under him. "H-huh!?," Sonic gasped.

There was a short silence, before the dark hedgehog spoke anew. "I...said that out loud, didn't I?" "Yeah, you did. Please tell me, that those drugs don't get to you, too." "No! No, I promise, that's not the reason!"

"Then what is?," Sonic asked, wanting a proof, that his words were true. Shadow sighed. "I know this sounds strange...coming from me and in this situation we're in and all... but... you're different...and I like it. I...like you."

Sonic blushed in a deep crimson color. "O-oh...I...I like you, too..." "You...do?" Shadow sounded hopeful. "Yeah... somehow...I can't stop thinking about you, since the last time I saw you. And...I...feel better with you. Safer. As if all of this here isn't so threatening anymore. Does it make any sense?" "Yes, it does." He could nearly feel Shadow smile.

Sonic then decided to make things clear. "D-do you...think...it's lo-" "Don't say it!" The blue uke nearly fell off the container because of the shout. "I'm sorry, just...just don't say it. Not as long as we're here. I don't want to taint this word... this...feeling... with their doing. But please know, that...that I feel the same.," Shadow explained.

Sonic blushed and felt warmth in his stomach. Oh, how he wished this container was open! He would love to hug Shadow right now...

He jumped, when he heard a loud bang. He looked down and saw, that the container he sat on was open and Shadow was just coming out, trying to get used to the bright light of the outside.

He soon could see like always, turned around and looked up to Sonic. They smiled at each other. Shadow raised his hand and held it out for Sonic. The blue hedgehog smiled happily. He stretched out his hand and let himself fall, so that his hand landed in the other's, before his feet touched the ground.

"Seems, like wishes do come true.," Sonic smiled and hugged Shadow. The dark hedgehog was only too happy to hug back. "I wished we could stay like that forever.," he mumbled, nuzzling the other affectionately. Sonic purred happily.

He felt, how Shadow jerked and looked up. "W-what's wrong?," he asked, worried. "It's okay, they only injected me with the sedatives.," Shadow reassured. "Already!? Why?" Did those humans have to ruin everything!?

"Who knows? Maybe it has nothing to do with us. But as a fact, they're most likely collecting us in again. Promise me, that you're not so reckless and take them on. Don't fight back, or you might get a deadly overdose!," he said sternly.

Sonic's ears pressed to his skull, but he nodded. Shadow smiled and pet his head. "That's good. I'll see you soon again, okay?" Sonic nodded again, sadly, but blushed heavily, when Shadow touched his forehead with his lips. "Something for you to remember me."

Shadow smiled upon the crimson red hedgehog in front of him, he himself looking already very tired. He let reluctantly go of the other, both feeling much colder, though the sun still burnt down on them. With weak movements, he staggered back to his container and sat down in it. Just a few seconds later, he was out like a light.

Sonic smiled with a hint of bitterness. He looked adorable, but he wished to see him like that in a bed, far away from this hell.

His ears twitched upon hearing the motorboat approaching. Well, he had promised to not fight back, so he simply sat next to the container, waiting for the humans. It was against his nature to just wait to be hurt, but where should he go? And without Shadow he didn't want to leave.

He jerked, when something embedded itself in his arm. A dart. It couldn't interest him less. He would see Shadow tomorrow, that was all, that counted. His mind became fuzzy, but not enough to not hear the terrified screams of the humans.

He looked up and his foggy vision managed to make out three semes, that stood in front of him, as if they wanted to protect him. No, that was impossible, right? Why should they? His mind couldn't process all that and soon after, he was asleep.

* * *

While Sonic was in a peaceful slumber, the humans had a war at their hands. They had been forced to interrupt the mating, as the semes had gone crazy and had started to fight and kill each other. The semes didn't care for the ukes, who were busy masturbating at the outer part of paradise, as they didn't dare to go close to the fighting semes.

That's why they wanted to collect them all in again, to find out, what was wrong. But now, they had another, never before occurred problem. Besides number 125, all the semes – that were still alive – weren't asleep. The ten surviving males were at the beach, standing around the slumbering number 299, that they sedated right away to not give it an overdose again. Instead of taking advantage of the defenseless uke, however, they growled at the humans.

"What should we do!?," one of them asked, not eager to try and fight them off, while having to keep them alive. The leader of the group listened to what he got from their boss. "Alright, everybody, we move back to the ocean!," he said loudly. Slightly confused, they left the island again.

"Why should we retreat?," one of the men asked. "They're too aggressive and don't react to the sedatives. We can find out later, what is wrong with them. For now, they shall calm down. And we need to get more sedatives and wait for back up. We need to sedate them by hand.," the man growled, annoyed of the prospect to try and get those killer machines to take a nap.

When Sonic woke up again, he was lying on something oddly soft. Was he dreaming still? He stretched and tried to orientate himself, when he felt someone touch his head. Immediately, he was wide awake, slapped the hand away and tore his eyes open, panting and readying himself for a fight. His sight was still blurry and he panicked a little.

"Sonic." Only hearing this calmed him down completely. He blinked and saw Shadow kneeling next to him with a soft smile. "A-am I dreaming?," he asked, with a croak in his voice. "No, you are awake."

"But...I don't understand!" Sonic had yet to shake off the effect of the drugs completely. "Me neither. I woke up and you were sleeping next to me on a pile of leaves."

"Huh?" Sonic looked down and noticed that he sat on a thick layer of palm tree leaves. "O-oh..."

He looked around and noticed, that they were in Shadow's container, with the front still open. He flinched upon seeing ten semes in front of the container. They just sat there on their ankles, reminding him a little of monkeys, and looked at them.

Sonic swallowed and scooted a little closer towards Shadow. "Don't worry, I think they placed you in here, but they didn't touch you, I promise.," the dark seme explained. Sonic turned deep red. "D-do I want to know...how you know that?," he asked, embarrassed. "Relax, I only checked your scent. It is still the same as ever, no difference. You and your body are still the same." Sonic took a breath of relief.

"Why are they looking at us like that? It's creeping me out.," he mumbled towards Shadow. The dark hedgehog snarled at the semes, startling Sonic a little and the other males greatly, they jumped and scattered away.

"Wow, cool.," Sonic said impressed. "I have noticed, that they were very afraid of me, so I figured that this would work.," Shadow shrugged. "Should we go to our cave?," he asked.

"I would like to, but those guys glued the cave shut." "They GLUED it shut?," Shadow repeated confused. "Yeah. They filled it with stones, that they glued together." "I see. Strange, that they are so keen on keeping you among those sex crazed beasts. I never witnessed them doing that before. You must be really special."

"Y-you think so?" Sonic blushed. "I know so. You're wearing the same kind of collar like me." "Really?" The blue hedgehog looked at Shadow's collar and noticed, that it looked different than the others'. "Do...do you have also...special powers?"

"Yes. I'm strong and fast and-" "Fast!? Like me!?," Sonic asked excitedly. "Yes..." "We could have a race, once we're out of here!," he said, his tail wagging and hitting the wall of the container.

Shadow chuckled. It was adorable. "Yeah, we should.," he agreed, smiling. "Can we walk a little? I don't like sitting still for too long." "Sure." Shadow stood up and helped Sonic up, who was still a little dizzy, thanks to the sedatives. He leaned a little on Shadow for support, both feeling comfortable with it.

They walked together over the warm sand, around the island. During their walk, they often saw semes poking their heads out through some foliage and watching them. Shadow, who was closer to the jungle of the island, growled at every hedgehog, that he saw.

"Thanks.," Sonic said after he had scared away another seme. "No problem, I don't want them to hurt you." "Say, what's your story?," Sonic asked suddenly. Shadow paused. "W-why do you want to know?," he replied, slightly stuttering. "I'm just curious. Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?," Sonic asked, confused. "Well, it's just, I don't think you would like to hear that."

Sonic let go of Shadow and looked at him furiously. "Why!? Because I'm a weak uke?," he hissed. "What? N-no! That's not, what I-" "Save it!" The blue hedgehog ran off, as fast as he could. "Sonic, wait!," Shadow ran after him, worried about his safety.

Sonic ran straight towards the rock in the middle of the island and started to climb. Why was everyone so damn keen on 'protecting' him? Or spoil him, like this other seme with the strange thing. He was a hero for crying out loud! He had thought, that Shadow was different, that he saw more in him than a weak uke – yeah, right! And he LET him protect him against those semes! Had he maybe become so weak, that Shadow felt like he needed to go easy on him!? Why was it like that? WHY!?

As angry as he was, he lost his footing around the middle of the rock and he fell down, but he landed safely in Shadow's arms, without hurting himself. "Is everything okay? Are you hurt?," he asked, caring. Sonic glared at him, still angry. "Let me go.," he grumbled and looked away, crossing his arms.

"No, not until I told you what I wanted to say at the beach.," Shadow replied and held him a little tighter. Sonic rolled his eyes and crossed his arms a little more.

"Fine.," he sighed, annoyed, but at the same time convinced, that nothing he would say would change anything.

"I didn't want to tell you my story for three reasons. First, we aren't alone and I only share this story with someone I trust completely." Sonic blushed and uncrossed his arms. Oh.

"Second, my story isn't a happy one and I don't want you to be sad for even a second." Sonic looked up to him. That meant...

"And third, my...actions weren't all, what a hero like you would approve of. I...am embarrassed to tell you about it. I'm afraid...that you won't like me anymore, when I tell you." Shadow sighed and pressed his ears to his skull.

Sonic smiled and reached up to him to stroke his cheek. Shadow looked down and in his eyes. "I could never hate you. Promise me to tell me everything, when we are out of here, okay?," he said gently. Shadow smiled at him. "Okay."

He carefully sat Sonic on his feet, just to feel a harsh sting in his neck. "Again?," Sonic asked concerned. "Yeah. I think, this time they'll collect us in for real.," Shadow replied.

"And I can wait for one of those sickos to shoot me. Joy.," Sonic sighed. He felt pretty stupid, that he had ruined their short time together because of something like hurt pride.

Shadow noticed, how upset he was. "Hey...come, sit down with me." As his legs started to cave, he sat down and dragged Sonic down with him, but not next to him – on his lap.

Sonic blushed. "W-what-!?" "Shh...just relax. Take a nap, then you don't have to wait for them.," Shadow soothed.

Sonic nodded insecurely and leaned on his shoulder. "Comfortable?," Shadow asked. "Uh huh...," Sonic mumbled tiredly, while his eyes closed completely, the remains of the sedative in his blood and Shadow's warmth helping in lulling him to sleep.

They soon were both asleep, not caring for the world around them, like the humans, that crept carefully closer, before shooting one arrow into the blue uke's neck, knocking the already sleeping hedgehog out.

They waited a few minutes for the sedative to take effect, before two men came to the duo and separated them...or tried to, at least. Even though mobian hedgehogs weren't heavy, at least not for humans, they couldn't lift number 299 out of number 125's limp arms. It was, as if they were glued to each other and the ground. In the end, they had to radio the other men of their team for support.

With six men, they were finally able to rip the blue hedgehog out of the other's grip. "Radio the boss. Those two aren't normal at ALL!," the leader of the group panted, as he had had to use all of his strength for this, like the others, too. Just what was going on with those hedgehogs today?!

* * *

Ok, this might be the last time I upload a short chapter first and then a longer one, the next ones will be long. Besides, I won't interrupt Sonadow anymore (maybe IN the chapter, but not through a whole chapter). Oh, and the other pairings will appear soon enough.


	7. NEVER mess with a seme!

WOOHOO! I passed my most important exam! Time to celebrate! And to upload a new chapter. Hope you like it!

 **7: NEVER mess with a seme!**

Kylie was on edge. It had been around 24 hours, since Sonic had been brought to Paradise – and now, Perringten had called her to a special floor. The last time he has wanted her by his side, he had showed her, what happened on Paradise, three years ago. She still had nightmares from this. Now, what was the horror this time?

The lift she had been in stopped with a violent jerk and the doors opened with a slight 'ding'. She took a deep breath. Underground level three. She was there.

Kylie stepped out of the elevator and looked around. She had been ordered to come to -3/01, but she had never before heard of it. Thankfully, there was a big 01 painted over the double doors on her right. She walked to them, they swung open automatically and she saw a bunch of people, all standing in front of a big window, that was most likely an one way window.

Perringten, who stood in front of the group, turned around upon hearing the doors and a big smile appeared on his face. Kylie's blood ran cold. When a sadist like him was in a good mood – it was always bad news for the hedgehogs.

"Ah, Dr. Ellen, glad you could make it! I hope, I didn't hold you up on your work.," he smiled in a nearly friendly way, motioning her closer to the group of human men – Kylie was the only female being on the whole Island – and the window.

"Oh, er...no...I...I have time.," Kylie answered with a – halfhearted – smile. "Good! I had hoped, that you would witness my newest experiment! Come, he is just waking up!," Perringten said.

This didn't sound good and Kylie had to force herself to go and stand beside Perringten. Her breath hitched upon seeing the creature on the other side of the window.

It was Sonic. The poor thing was chained on his wrists and ankles, so that he stood upright. The chains around his ankles were so short, that he was unable to move. His fur had been shaved off at places, because he had had infusions, or his blood had been drawn – or both. The puncture wounds hadn't been patched up, so that there were dried blood trails on his body.

He trembled, while he came back to his senses, maybe for the first time in a day. He blinked and shook his head to try and shake off the dizziness. His glare brushed several times over Kylie, but he didn't show signs of recognition – or general seeing. He saw most likely just his own mirror image, unaware of the viewers.

Sonic seemed to be fully awake now and tugged at his chains, trying to break free, but it was no use, they were too strong for the still weakened uke.

"Let him out.," Perringten ordered one of the scientists next to him. He nodded and pressed a button on a little remote. A door behind Sonic opened and in swayed an apparently highly drugged seme with...a gas mask!?

"S-Sir... er...this...this seme...," Kylie stuttered. "Ah, you're wondering about the mask?" Perringten sounded even more exited.

 _No, I was wondering, why you're such an asshole._ , Kylie thought, but nodded. "Let me explain." He took a file from one of the other men, opened it and showed Kylie a picture of a strange bloody thing, that lay in blood red sand. It looked, as if it had been buried and dug out again. "Do you know, what this is?," he asked.

 _Besides disgusting, gross and made for you?_ "No, sir.," she answered truthfully. "This is the heart of a seme. During number 299's last trip to paradise, the semes started to fight against each other for no reason. One of the semes ripped this heart out of another and tried to gift it to 299.," he explained.

"That is-" _As I said: DIS-GUS-TING!_ "-an unusual behavior.," Kylie managed to say. "Exactly! We did some tests on this uke and the result is, that no seme besides his chosen one would ever try to mate with him without his consent! And this message is delivered via his scent! The heart was probably meant as some kind of coaxing, I suppose, or as a trophy, to prove, that he's the strongest. To go around this uke's natural scent and protection, this seme wears a mask, that lets him smell an artificial scent of another uke and conceals the real one."

"I-I see...b-but when you know this already – why calling it an _experiment_?," Kylie asked, trying not to look too shocked.

"You'll see soon enough.," Perringten grinned coldly, making Kylie tremble and, as it would be too obvious if she didn't, she forced herself to watch the horror in front of her, like the others.

* * *

Sonic shook. He couldn't turn around and look, but he knew, that someone was with him in the room. Judging by the growls he heard, it was a seme. A drugged seme. And he was absolutely helpless. He pulled at the chains, panicking, trying to free himself, but like before, he couldn't break them.

His heart nearly stopped beating, when he felt a hand on each side of his hips. Before he could try and say stop, he felt something big entering his behind forcefully with one hard thrust, nearly splitting him in half and only one word escaped his lips, but as loud as possible:

"SHAAADOOOW!"

* * *

Kylie jumped. All sounds were muted, thanks to the room's structure, but she knew, that Sonic had cried out, as she could see the one way window vibrate. _Please, stop this! Please!_ , she pleaded in her head, trying and failing to keep her tears in. Her fists in the pockets of her lab coat clenched as hard as possible. "Just a matter of time now.," she heard Perringten mumble. She didn't look up.

"Stop! P-please, stop!," Sonic sobbed, his voice nearly giving out. Blood pooled between his bare feet, not only from his abused anus, but also from his body, that was scratched again and again by the seme, while he plunged in him without mercy.

But, a little part of him was wondering – was it just the blood loss, or...did the room really shake?

* * *

The room was shaking. It was obvious for the watching humans, but why? To Kylie's surprise, no one of the others seemed to even acknowledge it.

She jumped once more, when the wall behind Sonic and the seme exploded, a sharp piece of the destroyed metal door embedding itself in the window, cracking it severely, but not smashing it.

She looked past the cracks in the glass and her mouth fell open upon seeing a black hedgehog with red stripes on his body, a look in his blood red eyes, as if he was the devil himself, and a red aura visibly swirling around him.

She knew this hedgehog, it was Shadow! She was absolutely sure, Sonic had described him to her... This was the one Sonic was in love with! He must've been caged nearby, had heard Sonic's cry and freed himself to help him. Judging by the earthquake from before, he had used a lot of energy for this, although he didn't look exhausted at all.

He stomped over to the mating couple, every step of him let the floor break, obviously thanks to this red aura, that got more and more intense the closer he got. He reached them, grabbed the seme and threw him forcefully off of Sonic, his pupils were now only slits, as if he was a snake.

Kylie felt something in her stomach turn, while she watched the seme being thrown against the remains of the wall and falling to the floor, lying still in an unnatural position. He was most likely dead.

"Come on, now, take what yours!," Perringten mumbled, as if he was cheering Shadow on, his eyes on the dark hedgehog, that slowly approached the other.

Kylie swallowed. All this – to trick Shadow's instincts to mate Sonic? Now, after he's been raped? It would destroy their bond forever! She winced, when Shadow sank his sharp teeth in Sonic's unprotected neck, making him let out a – for her – silent scream.

* * *

Sonic didn't know, what was going on. Just when this seme had stopped scratching and thrusting with one last thrust, that let something fill him, he had left him all of a sudden. But now, someone was approaching him again and this time, he felt something sharp, that dug itself painfully into his neck and he cried out hoarsely, which didn't seem to faze the attacker. He looked up into the mirror, that was in front of him and his eyes went wide. It wasn't the seme, who bit into his neck!

It was Shadow. His heart clenched. Tears pooled in his eyes and he looked down again to not see this anymore. It was bad enough. The tears now ran down his cheeks. Didn't Shadow say, that he wasn't effected by drugs? Didn't Shadow promise to protect him? Didn't Shadow...love him? "Sh-Shadow.," he choked out, his heart broken to pieces.

The teeth in his neck jerked with their owner and slowly removed themselves. Sonic took a few deep breaths to ease the pain. The small torrent of blood, that was still flowing down his body from his neck, didn't make it easier.

He flinched, when the feet of the other hedgehog came into view in front of him. "S-Sonic... I... what... what did I do?"

Sonic looked up upon hearing the pained voice. He noticed the tears in the other's eyes, the look of pure terror and horror. His hands were outstretched, but didn't touch him, as if he feared to hurt him even further.

He was so sorry, he could feel it, but what was a bite against the rape he had just been through? And...he was so happy, so glad, so relieved...to see him...

"Sh-Shadow." His voice was weak and a mere whisper. The dark hedgehog looked at him, worried, about him and about what he would say.

"F-free...m-me...," he stuttered weakly. "Y-yes!" Shadow bent down and broke the chains around his ankles off, making Sonic sigh in relief, when he could shift his weight a little. After that, Shadow broke off the other chains and caught the weakened uke, before he could collapse.

He sat on the floor, knowing, that he shouldn't move Sonic, as he was gravely injured. He set him on his lap to protect him from the cold of the metal floor. Sonic leaned against him, shivering. "I'm so sorry, I really am.," Shadow mumbled, caressing his cheek gently.

"It's...o-okay. Y-you s-saved me, th-that's all, that c-counts...," Sonic whispered, snuggling weakly a little closer. He was so tired and just wanted to sleep and forget this past hour so badly.

* * *

"Disappointing.," Perringten commented the heart-warming sight of the two cuddling hedgehogs, who seemed to have settled down. "Sedate them. Bring 125 to an extra safe cell and take 299 to Stance. Maybe at least the other seme did, what I expected from him.," he ordered dryly. One of the other scientists gave the orders further.

Kylie watched helplessly, how soldiers stormed through the destroyed door opposite of her in the room and surrounded the hedgehogs. She saw, how Shadow, who sat with his back to them, tensed. The strange aura, that had faded by now, appeared again, apparently stronger this time. This was bad news!

Just when the aura shone its brightest, the soldiers shot their arrows all at once – and Shadow let the red energy go. Kylie threw herself on the floor and protected her head with her arms just in time. A loud boom from an explosion hurt her eardrums and let the whole room, maybe even the whole Island, shake.

After a few minutes, her ears still hurt and there was an incessant 'peeeeep' in them, but at least nothing shook anymore. She lifted herself on her hands and knees, once the sound was gone, and shook herself a little like a dog to brush off the dust and debris, that had covered her. The wall and the window next to her were mostly gone, the other men lay behind the place where she had thrown herself on the ground, unconscious or dead, it was hard to say. It seemed, as if they had truly underestimated the damage the seme could cause. She rose herself up to sit on her knees and looked carefully over the remains of the wall.

Her jaw dropped. In the middle of unmoving soldiers – unconscious or dead – and broken sedative darts, were the hedgehogs, surrounded by a blue aura, that built a sphere-like structure around them. Shadow held tightly onto Sonic, while his red aura slowly faded, merging here and there with the blue orb, coloring it purple.

Kylie didn't know, what this was and right now, she didn't care. Even from her spot she could see, that there was a puddle of blood, that still grew under them. The blue sphere had obviously protected them from further damage – the floor in the sphere was still intact, unlike the one outside of it –, so it had to be Sonic's blood. It was too much for such a small being, he needed medical treatment!

But Shadow... he was most likely only depending on his instincts now. And humans like her weren't his best friends...

She swallowed and stood up. Her legs shook from the aftershock, but she could stand. As the remains of the wall she had looked over appeared sharp, like the fangs of an animal, she didn't try to climb over them and looked for another way in the room.

The explosion had ripped a large crack in the wall a few feet away from her. It was big enough for her to slip through. She did just that, now standing in the room, that smelled like sex, blood, death and fire.

At once, the dark seme's head whipped around to her and he growled, his pupils still only slits. He was nothing but a bundle of instincts now. One wrong move of her, and the aura, that flared a little stronger around him upon seeing her, would kill her in an instant.

"I-it's okay.," Kylie stammered, trying to get her breathing under control. _He's scared. Sonic's injured. They need_ help., she thought and calmed down. She straightened herself a little and tried to look as confident and harmless as possible. "I'm Kylie. A friend of Sonic.," she started. Shadow's ears twitched upon hearing Sonic's name. Good, he still understood, what she said.

"Can I come closer? I'm a doctor and I would like to check up on Sonic. May I?" Shadow growled deeply. Kylie swallowed. _Bad move_. "It's okay. I don't mean any harm for you." Although this room wasn't the warmest, she took off her lab coat and threw it away. She wore under it skintight jeans and a very tight T-shirt. She hoped, that it was obvious, that she hadn't anything hidden. She wouldn't like to strip at a place like this.

Thankfully, Shadow seemed convinced and stopped growling. Kylie saw this as a good sign. Slowly, she approached them. Shadow didn't growl, but she could feel his eyes studying her every move, just waiting for a wrong one. It wasn't calming.

Finally, she was there. "Alright, let me just come down to you, so you don't need to disturb Sonic." _Talk! Talk or he'll attack!_ , she thought. She knelt down, in the blood, that still flowed out of Sonic, and shuddered a little. Shadow watched her curiously, but didn't growl.

"Okay...er... can you...open...this thing?" She gestured towards the blue sphere, that still surrounded them. She wasn't keen on finding out, what it'd do to her, if she touched it...

In this moment, Sonic groaned and opened his eyes. "K-Kylie...," he whimpered, as she was in his eye sight right now. Tremblingly, he stretched out his hand, reaching out of the sphere. Kylie took it slowly, being careful not to touch his bleeding wrist. The moment they connected, she felt a strange energy wash over her and when she looked up, after a few seconds, she noticed, that she was with the other two in the blue sphere.

She understood: Sonic controlled the blue energy, he had protected himself and Shadow subconsciously. And when she had asked for entrance, he had granted it by grabbing her hand and taking her in the safety of his sphere. With that, he also had shown Shadow to trust and not harm her.

"K-Kylie..." Sonic's weak voice brought her back to present problems. She looked at the exhausted hedgehog. "I...I don't feel...so...good...," he whimpered. Kylie stroke his hand with her thumb. "I know. Just relax, okay? You need to rest. We'll take you to the ward, there's everything I need to help you." The tired male nodded. "Okay. Thank you.," he whispered and closed his eyes.

Kylie looked up to Shadow, while carefully laying Sonic's hand back on his chest. "Let's go, okay?" Shadow growled. He didn't want to follow her. As Sonic was weakened, so could be his judgment. His instincts told him to be careful still. "Listen, I know you don't like me, but I swear on my life, that I want to help you. Please, just trust me a little. We have to go up to the ward, there is everything I need to heal Sonic."

Shadow's ears twitched. He seemed to think and then, he nodded and stood up. The strange blue sphere disappeared. Kylie hoped, that everything was alright with Sonic and this sphere simply disappeared, because Shadow wanted to move. She noticed, that more than half of the blue one's pelt was bloody by now.

"Wait a second.," she mumbled and ran over to her lab coat. She held it upside down, so all things in her pockets fell out, which weren't much, picked up her ID-card she needed to unlock the door to the ward, bundled the white coat up, walked back to the hedgehogs and showed Shadow the bundle. "Here. We need to stop the bleeding, or he won't make it up to the ward." Shadow nodded, balanced Sonic on one arm and pressed the coat on the wound on his neck with the other hand.

"Then let's g-" "Come down.," the dark seme ordered. Kylie blinked. "Huh?" "Come. Down.," the hedgehog repeated calmly. Shadow was either not the most eloquent speaker – or his brain was still battling with his instincts and blocking most of his ability to speak. A little nervous, as she didn't know, what he would do, she knelt down to his eye-level and once she was there, she was wondering, what he planned.

Shadow let go of the improvised compress and gestured her to come closer to him. She lent forward and jumped, when Shadow touched her forehead with his free hand. He closed his eyes and for some reason, she did, too.

Kylie could feel energy surround her and for a second, she could've sworn, that she wasn't on the ground anymore. Then it ended and she felt, how he took his hand away. She opened her eyes and her jaw dropped again: they were in the ward! Her ward!

She wanted to ask, but when she opened her mouth to speak, Shadow suddenly collapsed in her arms, breathing heavily. Whatever he did and however he did it, he was totally exhausted from it. Luckily, those two weren't heavy.

She picked Shadow up, who held tightly onto Sonic and placed them gently on the bed closest to her. Shadow grunted, as she could think for herself, in gratitude. Kylie smiled briefly, before she tried to get Sonic out of his arms, but the seme refused stubbornly to let loose.

He reminded her a little of her son, when he had been a child and didn't want to let go of this...ugh...dead frog he had found on a street. He had had SIX very long baths, until he hadn't smelt like frog anymore.

Sonic didn't have any resemblance of a frog, but Shadow acted like Alex back there. She huffed a little. "I can't treat him properly, when you cling onto him as if he's a stuffed animal. I need him out of your arms for a few minutes, then you can have him back, okay?," she said, trying not to sound too annoyed. Reluctantly, Shadow nodded and let her take Sonic. Kylie smiled. "Thanks for understanding. I'll make sure to return him soon."

As the beds in the ward were made for humans – although she had never treated one here so far, this was someone else's job, she guessed – she could place Sonic easily on the same bed Shadow sat on. It calmed the dark seme noticeably.

Kylie then shifted her attention solely on Sonic. She gently examined the injuries. The wounds on his wrists weren't that bad, as were the wounds on his ankles. But the wound on his neck was really deep. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but Sonic had lost about a liter blood, if not more – and he didn't have such a big body...

She sighed. The wound needed stitching and then she needed to get him to drink water to help his blood production. "I need to get something for Sonic to stitch his wound." She thought, that it was the best to inform Shadow about her every move, to not make him nervous. Or aggressive. Or protective. Basically not to make him anything, that she wouldn't survive, if it was at full force.

Without waiting for a reply, she got everything she needed and started to stitch up the wound. It would scar over most likely, but this was something she couldn't change. She sighed, when she was done, and gently dressed the wound to help it heal. She cleaned and dressed also the scratch marks and the wounds on his wrists and ankles.

Finally done, she wiped her brow and put the material away, that she had used. With a wet towel, she rid his fur of most of the blood, though he would need a bath to really get clean again. Only one thing left to do, now.

"Believe me, I don't like doing that.," she mumbled, while she carefully turned Sonic around, on his belly. With a heavy blush, she examined his rear. The now dead seme didn't have much time to fill Sonic up, so there were only traces of the white stuff. But the harsh intrusion had caused some deep rips in the tissue. They would infect, if she didn't do anything.

Before she could think about a solution, however, Shadow crawled closer, looking a little better. He bent over Sonic's exposed rear and stuck out his tongue.

Kylie, who realized in the last moment, what he planned to do, quickly turned her back to them. "Oh Chaos, oh Chaos, oh Chaos! I know, they are partly animal, I know, he's on his instincts right now, but GROSS! Okay, Kylie, think! He...he'll need water! Yeah, to wash out his...his mouth! Yeah! And...And Sonic needs some, too! Yeah. Focus on that! FOCUS ON THAT!"

She rushed over to her little office, got a bottle of water and three empty cups, tried to waste some time and then peeked in the room. Just Shadow with Sonic on his lap. Everything's alright. Nothing gross. She came back to them, put the cups and the bottle on the table, opened the bottle and poured water in every cup before she gave one to Shadow.

"You...er...should...wash your mouth. There's a sink over there..." She interrupted herself and swallowed, when Shadow simply drank the liquid. He noticed the slightly green face of the doctor and smirked. "Instincts. Gross, huh?" "Er... let's just say _unusual_ , okay?" Kylie brushed her hair back. "Anyway, do you think, you can get Sonic to drink some water at least? He needs it, he has lost lots of blood."

Shadow nodded, let her give him the second cup and shifted Sonic carefully a little. He then set the cup to his lips and tipped it a bit, while opening his mouth. Kylie breathed in relief, when she saw, that he swallowed the liquid.

Shadow was really careful not to give him too much at a time, he paused every now and then for a second, before continuing, what he did. Sonic sighed tiredly once the cup was empty and he snuggled closer to Shadow, falling back to sleep. Kylie and Shadow smiled. He looked so sweet and innocent.

The peace didn't last long. It was interrupted violently, when suddenly four BANGs echoed through the ward.

Kylie jumped and her heart broke upon seeing three sedative darts in Shadow's leg and one in Sonic's. Shadow trembled, but instead of trying to fight, he sacrificed his last strength to hug Sonic closer, as if it was for the last time. Shortly after that, he passed out.

Kylie turned around to the cheering soldiers, that came running in and some even danced where they stood, around the passed out hedgehogs, as if they had managed to kill a feral beast, that had killed thousands of innocents.

Her fists clenched. "You're the beasts. You are!," she thought hateful, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, while she watched, how they separated those two loving beings and brought them away.

"Ah, Dr. Ellen! Well done!" She turned around to see Perringten coming in the ward. He was dusted with remains of the explosion and bleeding from a wound on his forehead, but his eyes sparkled in – cruel – joy.

"When I woke up and saw them gone, I thought they fled! Luckily, you could trick them to stay long enough for my men to find you and them! Well done, really! Keep it up and I'll think about rewarding you! Now, good night!"

He left and finally, when she was alone, she broke down crying. She should have brought them out of here. Now, they were trapped still.

* * *

The next chapter comes...maybe Saturday, or Sunday. I'm not through with the exams, yet - but with the one, that was challenging me the most. So, I'll have some more time for my stories and after January even more. Well, see you later!


	8. How to save a life

There will be a bigger Tails, Amy, Knuckles-passage here and in the next one, too, sorry. And sorry for the title. I couldn't resist, it fit too good...

* * *

 **8: How to save a life**

When Sonic woke up, he was once again bound to a bed he lay on. An infusion was in his arm. But instead of the nice and caring Kylie, he only saw some human men, standing here and there in the – much bigger than Kylie's – ward.

He looked at the other beds. Nearly every single one was occupied with a hedgehog. Some of them looked strangely...fat...

His eyes widened and nearly popped out of his skull, when he realized the truth: They weren't fat, they were pregnant! But when he was here...w-was he...!? He swallowed. Sweat drenched his fur. But how? Shadow didn't...

His heart raced. Not Shadow. The other seme! So he didn't save him in time. He was pregnant through the rape. Tears ran down his face. He had never wanted to get pregnant – not now and not like this, at least. Not from some stranger.

"Ah, this one's awake." He nearly jumped out of his fur. One of the humans bent over him. He wore something, that looked like an op mask so he could only make out the cold black eyes. "Here." Before he could react, a spoon was forced in his mouth. On instinct, he coughed, spitting the tasteless light brown fluid out, so that it landed on his bed cover.

He felt a sting, when he got slapped. "Stupid animal! Eat already!," the man yelled, trying again, but this time, Sonic managed to bite him, hard. "ARGH! You little-!" He ripped his hand out from between his fangs and raised the bloody body part to hit him with more force, when another, seemingly older man in the same attire as the other, held him back. "Remember, he doesn't want this one harmed! Just ignore it, it'll beg for food soon enough.," he added with a mean tone in his voice. The younger man glared hatefully down to Sonic, who glared back with as much hatred. "Hmph.," the human grunted finally and let his arm fall to his side. With that, they left him alone.

Sonic buried his face in the not very soft pillow as good as he could and tried to hold in the sobs, that accompanied his tears. "Please, Shadow, Kylie, Tails...anyone... Please, help me out of this!," he thought desperately.

* * *

Tails jumped awake, drenched in sweat. What a horrible nightmare! He had seen Sonic in a forest out of pale skinned arms instead of trees, that had grabbed him and dragged him away from him, with Sonic crying for help...

He shook his head. This was just a dream. Sonic was safe. He looked on the calendar on his night table and sighed. Sonic was there for eight days now. Six more and he could visit him. He couldn't wait to do so! Still, maybe...one call, just to be sure...

Tails was just about to jump out of bed and get the phone, when he got a glimpse of his alarm clock. Maybe 1 am wasn't the best time for a call. He sighed and laid down again, trying to sleep some more.

* * *

Kylie was restless, to say the least. It had been four days and she hadn't heard anything about Sonic. Was he brought to paradise for the third time? Was he pregnant thanks to the unknown seme four days ago? Was he experimented on!?

She had tried to find his collar number in the Island's private network, but no luck with that. Well, the organization of things here wasn't the best, so maybe it didn't mean anything, they most likely just forgot to type in his number...

After those four days, she couldn't stand it anymore just to sit around and imagine. She threw some painkillers away and went up to the maternity ward, where they 'took care' of the pregnant ukes. If Sonic wasn't there, she would have to think of something else.

She entered the ward and her heart clenched. Around her were lots of pregnant ukes, chained to their beds, infusions in their arms. She could hear lots of them crying and whimpering for mercy. Hard to say, how often they already had to carry.

Hedgehogs carried for exactly 3 months, so, they could get pregnant four times a year, as the poor things never got a break. Once they gave birth, they were sent to paradise again the next day. As this whole thing went on for about three years now, some hedgehogs had had up to 12 pregnancies by now.

Normally, ukes would wait for at least a year with the next pregnancy, not only to keep their numbers generally low, but also to bring their current offspring up, which they couldn't do properly, when carrying again. This was against their nature, but as the humans made sure, that the ukes never met the same semes twice in a year, it was easy to trick their instincts. She hated it, but she couldn't do anything against it. With a heavy heart, she focused on the reason she came here.

"Doctor Ellen, what are you doing here? This isn't your ward!" Kylie looked up upon hearing that. One of the doctors came to her. Like everyone here, he had to wear a mask all the time to prevent the pregnant ukes from getting ill. Their immune systems weren't the strongest during this time.

"I need painkillers, can you spare some? An uke vomited in the bottle and they dissolved.," Kylie explained. She really had had a vomiting uke in her ward today, so he couldn't prove she was lying. And he knew, like her, that the ship, that brought them their goods, would come back in a week, she would need some for her patients until this day.

"I see... Fine, wait here, I'll get you some." He walked away and Kylie used her chance to look around.

Her heart did a painful beat, when she spotted a still, blue form on a bed in front of her. He didn't move, he just lay there, but... She frowned in thought. Something wasn't right here... His belly was too big! He was only in the fourth day, tops – but he looked, as if he was in the second, or even third month! Before she knew it, she was already running to his side, got out her stethoscope and tried to listen to anything in his belly.

Her eyes widened when she heard a sound she never heard before. Heartbeats. Very, very fast heartbeats, too fast for her to count! Before she could do more than swallow, it ended. Her breath hitched. The heartbeats just stopped. There was only one. Sonic's...

"Dr. Ellen, didn't I say-," the doctor, she had talked to before, started, when Kylie interrupted him. "Prepare a surgery, now! This male just had a miscarriage!," she shouted at him.

* * *

"Strange." Tails looked at the number on the display of the phone and then on the number on the flyer Prof. Bryan had given him, comparing them. Everything had been right. Then why did he get the message, that the number he had called, didn't have a target yet? Maybe they had changed it and he would get the new one in six days, when he visited Sonic. Yeah, that had to be it.

He jumped, when the front door was opened harshly and Amy stomped in, a big package in her hands, that she let fall on the kitchen table opposite of the young fox. "Er...good morning, Amy.," Tails greeted carefully. "Not really 'good'.," she huffed. "Oh...why?" "Because of this!" She pointed to the package. "The...package?" "Cream and I, we wanted to send Sonic a package. But those idiots of the delivery service sent it back and claimed it was the wrong address!," she hissed.

"Hm..." Tails stood up on his chair to look at the address on top of the package, comparing it with the one on the flyer. "It is right. This is getting ridiculous, why should they change their address and telephone number so quickly?," he thought.

A feeling of dread appeared in his stomach. Something was wrong here. And he had to find out, what! "Amy, let's go to the uke institute. I have a feeling, that something has happened to Sonic..." He shouldn't have said that, as the pink girl suddenly ran out of the house, tearing the front door down in the process.

* * *

It was a good thing, that Tails could fly – otherwise he would've lost Amy by now. The hedgehog girl was going crazy with worry. And it wasn't for nothing, as they had to learn soon.

When they stood in front of the gate, they didn't see the name _uke institute_ above it like before, but... _St. Ranael Psychiatric Hospital_.

Amy looked over to Tails. "We...are there, aren't we?," she asked reluctantly. Tails nodded, speechless. This was the exact same building, the exact same place. Why was it a psychiatric hospital? Sonic wasn't mentally ill!

"Let's go in and ask.," he decided and rang the bell. "Yes?" A foreign and bored sounding voice answered. "I...er...I...we...we...have got a question. C-can we come in?," he stuttered. A sigh was his answer. "Please come in." The gates swung open and let them enter.

Insecurely, the two children walked up to the building on the hill and through the glass door, that opened automatically. They stood now in the exact same foyer, but instead of a desk in the middle, there was a small office with thick glass walls around it in the left corner. An old human woman with white hair sat behind the white painted desk, on which were more glass walls. It seemed, as if she was constantly in danger of attacks. She raised her head and looked at them. "So?," she asked with the same bored voice they heard coming out of the speaker. What happened to the mobian cat?

Tails and Amy came reluctantly closer, they both had trouble to look over the edge of the desk. "Um...excuse me, is here someone named Sonic the Hedgehog?," Tails asked, not quite sure, how to formulate this question otherwise.

The woman behind the glass raised a brow. "This is a hospital for humans. We aren't taking care of mobians.," she said dismissively. "But- we have been here nearly two weeks ago and then this was an uke institution!," Tails argued. The woman looked even more annoyed. "This hospital exists for nearly one hundred years. It has never been this ridiculous institution. And now go, I have better things to do." She waved at them, as if they were flies.

Tails and Amy looked at each other shocked and ran out. They only stopped, when they were a few blocks away from this dreaded building, catching their breaths. "Tails.," Amy panted. "If they don't have Sonic – where is he then?" Tails had to fight his tears. "I don't know.," he choked out, trembling.

* * *

Knuckles sighed, while looking up to the floating sky. He would have never admit it, but he missed this blue cocky pincushion.

He remembered their first meeting. Sonic and Tails had had a crash landing on Angel Island, just when he had met Eggman, who had told him the two mobians were there to steal the Master Emerald. And, dumb and naive as he had been, he had listened to him and chased the two innocent boys. He had given them quite a hard time, but then he had felt, how the floating island had sunken. Of course, Eggman had used his absence to steal the gem. Until now, Knuckles was grateful, that Sonic, though injured and tired, had given his everything to get the stone back.

He respected Sonic for doing always his best. And he liked this hyper hedgehog for visiting him and keeping him company in the loneliness, although he annoyed him most of the time. Now, he felt pretty lonely again and he was sure, that the others were feeling like that, too. Sonic seemed to be the middle of all of their lives.

"Hm?" He jerked out of his thoughts and looked up, when he heard something and he squinted his eyes to try and recognize the flying object above him against the sun.

He frowned, as he noticed, that it was Tails' beloved plane, the Tornado. It wasn't like he didn't want to see his two tailed friend – but he could see from the way HOW Tails flew, that something was off. He wasn't followed by anything, so why was he flying this shakily, as if he couldn't foresee the strong winds? He had seen the fox flying countless times in all kinds of situations – this one was new. Even the landing in front of the temple looked like he barely made it.

The red eyes of Tails and Amy, who climbed out of the plane, and the tear stains on their cheeks weren't soothing at all, too. "Knuckles, Sonic's gone!," Tails cried while running to him. Knuckles' eyes widened. He jumped down to the ground, just when the two younger ones reached the foot of the temple. "What do you mean, _gone_?," the echidna asked sharply.

It took quite a while to make sense out of everything the two told Knuckles, as they were talking at the same time and crying.

"So...the uke institute is a mental hospital? And you have no idea where Sonic is, because they don't treat mobians in this place?," he finally asked.

"YES!" Tails and Amy exclaimed, frustrated, that the echidna was so slow in catching up – though it wasn't his fault this time.

"Okay...hm...That's strange. When Sonic isn't in a safe place and hasn't returned yet, he must be in trouble. ...Maybe Eggman knows more. He is the biggest troublemaker I know." "Eggman? Why him?," Amy asked.

"You're right...," Tails mumbled in thought. "This whole mess started, when Eggman outed Sonic as an uke. But why should he of all people suddenly care about hedgehog behavior and stuff like that?"

"Well, to destroy Sonic. Not that I approve, of course.," Amy quickly added. "But that's not his style! He builds robots or invents...a virus or stuff like that. Psychological terror like this uke-thing isn't his way.," Tails argued, mentally slapping himself for his stupidity. He should have noticed it right away!

"So...what do you suggest?," Amy asked. "We should go to Eggman and confront him. Maybe he even holds Sonic prisoner!," Tails said. Amy let her hammer appear. "Let's crack an egg.," she growled.

* * *

Thanks to one of Tails' inventions he quickly got from his home – ignoring the broken door, from that Amy couldn't remember at all, who caused this – they knew, where to fly to. Knuckles was accompanying them without a question and sat on one of the Tornado's wings. He also wanted to get Sonic back – the Master Emerald could be protected by Chaos for a while. The water god had been quite understanding, when Knuckles had asked him and his guardian Tikal to do this for them – well, Sonic had helped him, so that he had forgotten about his rage. It was natural for them both to pay him back.

Even with Tails' invention and the Tornado, they needed half a day to reach Eggman's hideout. The sun was setting now and in the red-orange light, they could see the destroyed remains of a building out of metal, close to a collapsed mountain and surrounded by thick forests. The rubble wasn't even smoking anymore, the destruction must've been days ago. "I-is this...really Eggman's current hideout?," Amy asked, slightly pale. "Yes..." Tails found a place to land between the begin of the forest and the destruction and they started to search in the rubble for any clues.

"Maybe he moved?," Knuckles asked after some careful search – there was still the danger of a collapsing floor. "No. According to my readings, he...he never...left this place...," Tails explained with a hollow voice.

"Then...what's...with Sonic?," Amy asked frightfully. Tails took a deep breath, held it and pressed a button on his Miles Electric. A few seconds passed, before he let out his breath in relief. "There aren't even traces of Sonic's Chaos Energy. He has never been here.," he sighed.

The other two also were relieved. "That's good to hear, but what can we do now? I have no idea, where he could be, then.," Amy admitted. "We need to go back to this mental hospital. That's our only lead now.," Knuckles said, determined. "But they said-" "I know that, but I'm sure, that they lied. A building can't change from one thing to another in such a short time. It did look the same inside, right?" Tails nodded.

"It's settled, then. Tomorrow, we fly back.," Knuckles said. "Why tomorrow?," the younger ones asked. "Because you are tired.," he said to the fox. "And I won't let you fly at night." Tails sighed. He knew, that he was right, but it still wasn't right with him. "Fine.," he sighed. He walked to the Tornado and got out of the hold some blankets he kept there always, in case they needed to spend a night in the wilderness.

He turned around and noticed, that the female part of the group was gone. "Where's Amy?," he asked.

"Here." He turned towards the pink girl, who came out of the dark becoming forest with a small bunch of forest flowers in her hand. She walked over to the rubble and placed the flowers down, making sure that they couldn't get blown away by the wind by putting some small stones on the bouquet.

"Amy, what-?," Tails started, confused. She looked at him sadly. "Eggman wasn't our friend and he never did any good, but...not even he deserved a death like this. Or Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun.," she explained.

Knuckles and Tails looked briefly at each other and then joined her, everyone did a minute's silence for their enemy and his robotic assistants, before they looked up. They walked away from the 'grave', into the forest and looked for a sheltered place to spend the night.

"Do you think Sonic's alright?," Amy asked finally the question, that was on everyone's mind.

"I'm sure of it. He's Sonic after all. He'll pull through...whatever he's gotten himself into now.," Knuckles tried to soothe the others – and himself. Amy and Tails nodded, although they all couldn't shake off the feeling of dread and fear.

After a few more minutes, they found a clearing where they could rest, more or less comfortable, thanks to the blankets.

* * *

The next day, the three friends woke up to the first rays of sunlight. Knuckles, who was used the most to live in plain nature, got them a breakfast out of berries (of course edible ones) and roots. Although it wasn't the most luxury food, they ate without complaining. They were all focused on getting back and finding Sonic. They returned to the Tornado and, after stuffing the blankets back into the hold, Tails got in and started the plane. Soon after, they were already in the air.

Tails had some trouble getting the plane under control. He shook his head. He had to forget his worry about Sonic, for now at least. He had to get them back safely, then he could worry.

After another half of a day, he landed next to their house and they made their way to the 'mental hospital'.

Knuckles rang the bell and barked in the speaker: "Open up! Now!" Although this wasn't the most polite way to ask for entrance, the gates swung open. The echidna marched up the way, the other two running after him, as he was so fast.

Without hesitation, the guardian entered and walked to the front desk. "Where is Sonic?," he snarled at the unfriendly woman, who wasn't fazed in the slightest by his anger – maybe, because she sat behind a thick glass wall. "As I already told your children, we don't take care of mobians..." She jumped back, when Knuckles hit the glass wall, making it crack. "Listen here, I KNOW, that Sonic is here and I won't go without him!," he hissed at the pale woman.

Before she could say something, he suddenly felt two stings in his neck. He turned around quickly, but wasn't sure, if he had stopped or not, as the room was going in circles before his eyes. He barely noticed, how Amy and Tails collapsed next to him, before this happened to him, too. He fell to the floor and everything turned black.

They were just sedated, when Prof. Bryan came out of his hiding spot behind a pillar, the weapon with the sedative darts in his hand. "And this is how you handle curious rats. Not by sending them away so they can inform someone.," he explained. "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again.," the woman apologized, while two men came to gather the three mobians. "Bring them to the other ones and make sure they stay. Perringten doesn't wish for any disturbances.," Bryan ordered.

* * *

Kylie was walking up and down in her ward, worry gnawing at her being, keeping sleep and rest away from her and food and water from her mind. Everything she could think of was the dying blue hedgehog on the only occupied bed in the room.

Two days ago, he had had a surgery to get the freshly died pups out of him – thanks to the advanced technology, it didn't leave a scar or even a trace of what the doctors had done to him – and had then been brought to her to 'fix him up', as the man, who had nearly tossed the fragile male in her arms, had formulated it.

Sadly, it wasn't that easy. Sonic's vitals were weak and she didn't want to know, how often he had already been close to death these past few days. He was in a coma and his health was decreasing fast, faster than she could try to mend it.

Finally tired of being restless, she sat down next to Sonic and looked at the skinny creature. Just how did this even happen? Why did the pups develop this quickly? Why did their hearts beat so fast, that they couldn't survive it? From what she knew, the pups had been forced to grow up in four days, this 'growth spurt' had been too much for their little bodies to handle. How was this possible?

A horrible thought came to her. Had it something to do with Sonic? Maybe his instincts told him to get rid of the children and he had refused to eat – as she had learned, while waiting for the surgeon, everyone had thought, that someone else had fed him, but in reality, he had starved himself for four days – because of that. He had sent all of his energy to his pups, but not supplied them with the necessary nutrients and forced them to develop in a lethal way. All thanks to his instincts, it seemed.

Her eyes widened, when the idea hit her. Instincts! That was it! She didn't know, how to help him – but maybe Shadow did! She jumped up, just barely not knocking over her chair and ran over to her laptop. With trembling fingers, she logged herself in in the Island's private network to try and see, where Shadow was kept now. Thankfully, this information was there and not classified and she could read, that he was kept in an underground cell. There were only six and just three of them were occupied.

Kylie closed the laptop and walked to Sonic, taking his hand, careful not to rip out one of the many wires, that connected him to the machines, that kept him alive. "Hold on, okay? I'll bring Shadow to you.," she whispered to him. She believed, that his ear twitched a little, when she had talked to him, but maybe it was just her imagination. She straightened herself and left the ward to go to the underground cells.

* * *

In no time she was there, looking at the heavily secured steel doors, that reminded her of safes. Three armed guards stood in front of three of the six doors, looking at her suspiciously. She ignored the stares and walked to the right man, behind whom was the door with a tag showing the number 125 written sloppily on it.

"I need this seme.," she said, not sure, what she should say otherwise. "I suggest you take a dildo, instead.," the man grinned. While his colleagues laughed with dirty grins, Kylie needed a moment to catch up. She turned a sickly green. "First: eew! Second: I don't need him for that!" "Yeah, right. I'm not allowed to just let it out." "It's an emergency. The life of an uke depends on him." "Why should I care?"

Kylie felt anger burning inside her. "Because the said uke is one of those the boss keeps an eye on. What do you think, how he reacts, if I would tell him, that number 299 died, because stupid guard-," she paused for a second and looked at his name tag, sewn to his uniform, "-Bracer had nothing better to do, than keeping his only helpful medicine away from him?," she growled.

Bracer swallowed. "O-okay, lady, no reason for panic! Just wait here, I'll get it." He turned around to the door and typed on the electronic lock, causing the door to open slowly, but not enough for Kylie to look in the room. Bracer walked in and – according to the sound of his steps, several meters more, before she heard, how endless locks got opened, together with another door. She wondered, how big this cell was. She heard some more noises she couldn't interpret, before Bracer returned, accompanied by the rattling of chains.

What she saw, broke her heart. Shadow was dragged behind the human by a chain, as if it was a leash, handcuffs around his wrists and his ankles. He looked to the floor and walked slowly, as the cuffs didn't allow big steps, but also was he swaying and his eyes were unfocused, he had to have a lot of drugs in his system. Bracer gave the chain, that was connected with the metal collar around Shadow's neck, a violent tug, making the hedgehog fall to his knees.

Kylie forced herself to not react to this, but to only reach out her hand for the chain. "Oh no, forget it! Knowing my luck, it escapes you and I'll get the blame! I'll deliver it personally. Where to with it?," Bracer said, holding the chain away from her.

Kylie knew, that resisting was futile, so she gave up. "The medicinal ward, on the third floor.," she explained tiredly. Bracer nodded and tugged the chain again. "Up!," he shouted at the drugged hedgehog, as if he was a dog.

* * *

Shadow's world was a blur. He felt, that something was stuck in his arm, he supposed, that it was a needle from an infusion. When he thought about it...there were more, than just one needle. Seemingly, he was fed and drugged at the same time. He didn't know, if his eyes were open, or not, as it was either way dark. He couldn't move, hard, unforgiving restraints kept him lying on his back on a hard surface. For how long? He didn't know.

He just wanted to slip in slumber, when he heard noises. His ears perked weakly. This sounded like metal clanging against metal and then, he saw light, for the first time in ages. A blurred figure came closer, loosing the restraints and ripping the needles out, while muttering something, that only were muffled noises for his drugged eardrums.

He then felt something grab him, lift him and letting him fall to the point he stood – more or less. Something tightened around his hands, ankles and neck and then there was a hard tug on his neck, that nearly made him fall over. He found his balance just barely, before he was tugged as hard, as before, forward. He couldn't walk properly with whatever was around his ankles, but as dizzy and lightheaded as he was, he couldn't probably hope to do it anyway.

He suddenly was forced on his knees by a really hard tug and he noticed a pair of blurry legs in front of him. As he wasn't able to see clearly anyway – and he would most likely get sick from trying to raise his head – he just kept looking to the floor. He wasn't in the mood for humans anyway.

Again, some words were spoken, that he couldn't understand and then, he was forced up once more to be dragged at the thing around his neck, which was most likely his collar. He tried to keep up, but he fell again and again on the hard metal floor, every time hearing those voices, pretty sure, that they were laughing over him.

After an eternity – it definitely felt like it – he was pushed by a hand in his back a few steps, before he just stood there, waiting. He flinched lightly, when he felt a prick in his arm and something cold on his forehead and finally, the fog in his mind lifted enough for him to look up and see oddly familiar brown eyes looking in his.

* * *

The way back to the ward was painfully slow. Kylie was torn: on one hand, she wanted to hurry, to get back to Sonic – and before someone would spot them and ask, what she was doing – on the other hand, she wanted to slow down, as Shadow had trouble with keeping up. He was too high to even walk, let alone at their pace. She always asked for slowing down, whenever he fell, but Bracer ignored her. Thankfully, they had used the elevator, or they would be still at it.

In front of the ward, Kylie quickly took the chain. "Hey! What-!?," Bracer started, when Kylie interrupted him. "This is MY ward. You stay outside. You can stand guard for all I care.," she said, as coldly, as the humans here were, and pushed Shadow, as gently, as she dared to be in front of Bracer, into the ward, then closing and locking the door behind her.

She took a deep breath and looked at the apathetic hedgehog. She grabbed a small flask and filled a syringe with the liquid in it. It would hopefully help him in seeing things a little clearer. She gently injected the medicine in him, threw the empty syringe away, soaked a towel with cold water and pressed it carefully against his forehead to help him regain some of his senses. The dark hedgehog blinked, his eyes focusing again. He looked up and his eyes widened a little. "You.," his raspy voice was painful to hear.

* * *

Shadow looked at the female human. He remembered darkly, that he knew her, that he didn't see her as a threat, but he couldn't recall her name, so he simply said, "You."

The woman smiled. "Are you feeling better?," she asked. He could only nod. "That's good." She seemed relieved, but then, she got worried.

"Okay, listen. Sonic, he isn't well, maybe you can help-" Shadow's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He looked around frantically and he felt his heart clench, when he saw Sonic in one of those beds, connected to numerous machines. He wanted to run to him, but he had forgotten, that he was still in chains, therefore, he fell to the floor once again, bruising his poor body even more, which he felt now, that he wasn't as drugged anymore, with full force. He whimpered involuntarily.

Human hands gently lifted him up. He turned around to see the woman. "It's okay. I'll help you.," she said. Carefully, she carried him over to the bed, setting him next to it on a chair. Shadow looked at the poor skinny hedgehog. The beeping heart monitor told him, that he was weak.

The woman stood next to him, looking sad. "What happened?," he asked, his voice hoarse. "He had a miscarriage.," she explained. His eyes widened. "H-he was pregnant!?," he thought. Guilt washed over him. He had promised Sonic to not let this happen to him. He couldn't remember anything, but when she had talked about it, it had sounded, as if he should know...

A knot appeared in his stomach. "D-did I...do this...to him...?," he asked, tears running down his cheeks.

* * *

It was obvious, that Shadow didn't remember her. As he had been operating on his instincts last time, it didn't surprise her. He seemed to recall though, that he could trust her, as he didn't try to attack her.

"Are you feeling better?," she asked. He nodded, not saying anything. "That's good." She was relieved, but then she got worried again. "Okay, listen. Sonic, he isn't well, maybe you can help-"

Before she could finish, Shadow already looked around in a panic, spotted Sonic and wanted to run to him, but the chains around his ankles let him fall hard on the floor. He whimpered in pain, obviously, her medicine had worked and he was now aware of the pain of his bruises, to that he had just added some more.

She carefully picked the hedgehog up, who looked at her surprised. "It's okay. I'll help you.," she said, carried him over to the bed with Sonic in it and lowered him on the chair next to it. The dark hedgehog looked at the blue one with a pained expression. "What happened?," he asked, his voice hoarse and trembling. "He had a miscarriage.," Kylie explained sadly.

It was silent for a little while. What then happened, surprised Kylie greatly. "D-did I...do this... to him...?," Shadow whispered, tears running down his cheeks. Her eyes widened. She knew, that he wasn't able to remember clearly, but that he recalled so less...

She knelt next to him and turned the weeping hedgehog around, so that he faced her. "Shadow, look at me.," she urged and after a little while, he obeyed. "You didn't do it.," Kylie said. "My boss wanted to trick you into mating with Sonic, that's why he let another seme rape him. You let your instincts take over, killed the seme and marked Sonic, but you snapped out of it after that."

His eyes widened and he looked down in thought. "I remember now...I apologized...but he said, all that counts, was, that I saved him." He smiled to the ground and more tears ran down his cheeks. He looked at Kylie. "This other male...got him pregnant, right?" "Yeah. Sonic was on the maternity ward for four days. He starved himself and the pups in him developed too fast for their systems to handle it. They died, while I listened. They removed the pups and since two days, he's like that.," she concluded, sadly.

Shadow's ears pressed themselves to his skull. Sonic had gone through so much... And now, he was dying. He didn't need to be a doctor to see that. He looked around the room, searching for something he didn't find. Cameras. There weren't any. This was good, as he knew the only way to help the close to death love of his life. "Can you remove it?" He pointed to the tube in Sonic's mouth. "I can't. He would suffocate, if I did that." "Please, it's important!," he urged.

* * *

Kylie had never seen a more desperate look in someone's eyes. She swallowed and nodded. As gently as possible, she removed the tube. At once, the dark hedgehog was on top of the other, his chains strangely in pieces. Before she could ask, he bent down and kissed Sonic on the lips.

Kylie blushed, but quickly, her jaw dropped, when the heart monitor indicated, that Sonic's heartbeat got stronger.

* * *

Shadow watched, how the human, whose name he still didn't know, removed the tube and he himself ripped his chains apart to move better. He bit his lip to draw blood, climbed on top of Sonic, once the woman had straightened herself again, and gently kissed him, making sure, that his blood trickled in the other's mouth.

At first, nothing happened, but then, he felt how Sonic kissed back weakly. He drew slowly back, opened his eyes and looked in tired emeralds. "Sh-Shadow...?," the blue hedgehog whispered, exhausted. "Shh..." Gently, Shadow caressed his cheek. "It's okay, I'm here. Just rest, everything will be fine, I promise." Sonic's eyelids slipped close and he fell asleep without another word. Shadow nuzzled him a little before he climbed off of him. "I hope, you can forgive me.," he thought.

"How...how did you do this?," the woman asked, astounded. Shadow sighed. "I couldn't let him die. That's why I shared my immortality with him."

"You're immortal!?," she gasped. "I was created to be so. I hope, he can forgive me." "Forgive you? That you saved his life?," the woman asked. Of course, the mortal human didn't get it.

"I made him immortal! He'll be damned to see all his loved ones die, again and again! And he'll have only me..." "Believe it or not, that will be enough for him. As long as you're with him, he'll be fine." "You don't understand things like that." He crossed his arms.

"He's head over heels in love with you. He's feeling safe and comfortable with you. What else do I have to understand?" "I ruined his life!" "Yeah, right. Ask him about it, when he's awake." Somehow, the woman was very confident.

She seemed to notice though, that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, that's why she changed the topic. "So...er...will Sonic be alright now?" Shadow was all too happy to talk about that. "He will be. My blood healed the damage of the starvation and gave his body a little energy. Not enough, though. He'll need to rest a few days. Sadly, I couldn't give him my healing abilities, so he'll suffer through the process of recovery like a mortal." "For this, we mortals have medicine.," the human woman huffed with a playful pout. She turned to Sonic and started to remove the wires he didn't need anymore, now, that he was recovering.

Shadow sat down next to him and took his hand. "Sleep, Sonic. I don't know, if you can forgive me, but I'll protect you either way. I won't let anybody touch you ever again."

Just when he thought that, the door opened and an old human man with white hair on his head and a walking stick in his hand came in. The woman stood straight, when she saw him. "Dr. Ellen, I was surprised, when Bracer reported to me, that you stole a valuable seme."

Shadow's quills raised. He didn't know this human – but his ice cold voice alone meant bad news, his instincts told him that much. He moved closer to Sonic.

"I didn't steal him, sir. Number 299 was dying, this was the only way I could think of to save him.," the woman, apparently Dr. Ellen, replied. "So? Did you have success?," the man asked, distrusting. "Partly, sir. The uke is responding good to the closeness of the seme, however, he isn't out of danger, yet.," she replied.

Shadow frowned. Didn't she listen? He had said just a minute ago, that Sonic would be fine with a lot of rest! "I need to keep them both here for at least one more day.," Dr. Ellen continued. His ears twitched. Did she do, what he thought she did!?

"Fine. 24 hours, not a second longer! And I will keep my men in front of the door!" With that, the man left, the door closed and was locked from the outside with an audible 'click'.

The woman sighed and slumped on an empty bed. "That was too close for comfort.," Shadow heard her mutter. She looked at him. "Sorry, that's all the time I could spare for you.," she apologized.

"Thank you.," Shadow replied. "No. Don't thank me. I should help you find a way out of here. Stalling time isn't worth thanking me." Dr. Ellen sounded depressed.

At first, upon hearing, that she had talked about them just using 'their' numbers and calling them not by their names, he had thought, that she was the same like everyone. But now, he thought different. This was maybe the only nice human in here.

* * *

A few hours later, during that Shadow and Kylie simply sat next to Sonic and mostly kept being silent, the blue furred hedgehog stirred with a silent groan. "Sonic?," Shadow asked and knelt down next to him on the mattress.

A blue ear flicked, then, Sonic opened his eyes. He blinked a few times to see clearly, before he looked around. "Shadow?," he mumbled. "Hi.," Shadow smiled, relieved. Sonic looked around more and discovered Kylie. "Kylie? Wh-what happened? I-I remember... being in this strange ward... then...nothing...," he whispered.

"Let's get you something to drink first.," Kylie said and went to fetch some water for the hoarse uke. She gave the cup to Shadow, who helped Sonic sit up a little and to drink a few gulps from the liquid. After that, he let himself sink back, feeling worn out.

"I'm pregnant, right?," Sonic finally said, when nobody wanted to say something. "Not... anymore.," Kylie answered reluctantly. Sonic flinched. "W-what does that mean?," he asked. "You had a miscarriage.," she explained, sparing him the details.

"Oh..." To his own surprise – and Shadow's horror – tears welled in his eyes. He lifted a trembling hand and wiped the tears away. "W-why a-am I e-even c-crying? I-I didn't want to be pregnant...," he sobbed.

Kylie took his hand in hers and caressed his hot forehead with the other. "That's the curse of motherhood. Even if you didn't feel the little ones, weren't aware of their presence yet, it leaves a wound on your heart. It will scar over, don't worry. But it will hurt for a while.," she said gently.

Sonic turned slowly on his side so that he faced her easier. Tears still dripped from his eyes. "Did...did...you have...also one?," he asked. Kylie smiled bitterly. "Three, to be precise." Sonic's eyes widened.

"By the first one, I just had had my eighteenth birthday and celebrated it with my whole class. My best friend and I, we drunk too much and...had our first time. I wasn't aware of the fact, that I was pregnant, until I fainted on top of a staircase. I fell down the many stairs and landed on my stomach. The fetus had been immediately dead. In the hospital, I learned for the first time from it. I was in pain and depressed after that. It was hard to get over it. I had always wished for children and therefore, it was twice as hard. I felt, as if I let my baby down. Luckily, my womb wasn't harmed and I could carry still. Shortly after I met my husband, we awaited our first child. I was so happy and exited. And I wanted to make sure, that I wouldn't lose her."

She paused for a moment and looked down. "But that's what happened.," she said sadly. "I was in my seventh month, I already knew, that she was a girl, I couldn't wait. That day, I had a doctor's appointment. As I wasn't allowed to drive and my husband didn't have time, I decided to take the train. And that was, when the train collided with another. I was thrown into an armrest with my belly first. The impact hit the child inside me so bad in the head, that it had died instantly. I was rushed in the hospital and they had to operate it out of me, or the body would have killed me, too. We gave her a funeral, as if we had known her, with a priest giving her a heart-warming speech. It made it a little better. I was in an even deeper depression after that, though. It got only better, when I gave birth to my very first baby, my son, Alex. I was so happy, I didn't even know, what depression was anymore. Then, ten years later, I got pregnant once more. This time, it were twins. You can imagine, how hyper we were. We were very careful, not wanting to lose them. In my seventh month, I got complications for no outer reason. It got worse on the way to the hospital and there, they heard during the examination, that there was only one heartbeat, not two. One of the twins, the male one, had died suddenly. They had to get both out and put the girl in an incubator. We didn't have time to grieve our loss, we had to pray for her survival. And Vanessa pulled through. She is a strong little girl and six years old now." She smiled. "Sometimes I still grieve for my three dead children, but then I see what I do have. It helps."

She reached out and petted Sonic's head. "Losing a child is never easy, but it gets better over time. Rest now, don't let this pull you down, okay?" Sonic smiled tiredly and he fell asleep once more.

Shadow just watched. He couldn't quite say something in this matter – he wasn't able to carry a child and therefore not able to understand, how it felt to lose it. Still, he would be there for Sonic all the way. He covered him up and kissed his cheek for a little comfort, before he let him rest.

* * *

Kylie and Sonic have been through a lot, huh? Well, I hope I can upload the next chapter on Tuesday. After this, I'll try to upload more often.


	9. The hierarchy of hedgehogs

I know, the chapter's a little shorter than the last, but the next one will come soon. Enjoy! Oh, and hope you like the new cover. Pictures don't belong to me, but I put them together like this myself.

* * *

 **9: The hierarchy of hedgehogs**

Knuckles' head pounded, when he woke up again. He opened his eyes and tried to find out, where he was and why he felt, as if he had been run over by a train.

His arms were in a strange position, he was literally hugging himself. He also felt warm in his upper region. He couldn't move his arms, so he had to lean on his forehead on the cold floor and then crawl on his knees before lifting his upper body to sit straight. He looked down and saw, that he was wearing a straitjacket.

He looked around the dimly lit room, the only light coming from a tiny window far above him. The small room, that seemed more high, than anything else, was barren, without any furniture. The walls and the floor were strangely soft, as if they were out of cushions. It took him a moment to realize, that he wasn't alone. Tails and Amy, also in those uncomfortable straitjackets, sat next to him. The fox even had one of those jackets around his two tails.

"Looks, like sleeping beauty finally woke up.," a foreign voice suddenly said. His head quickly turned around and he discovered two more beings with them in the room. The first was a bat with fur of a very light shade of gray, it was most likely white. Her big ears were drooped and it seemed, like her fur was dirty and unkempt. Next to her sat a cat with light gray fur. Some kind of jewel was embedded in her forehead and her eyes were gleaming in a light green shade in the darkness. They both also wore those jackets.

"Who are you? What is this place?," he asked with a sharp voice. "This are Blaze the Cat and Rouge the Bat. They have looked for their hedgehog friends here, but ended up getting knocked out and locked up, like us.," Tails explained. Obviously, he and Amy had been awake for some time now and had talked with the two girls, that seemed both around the guardian's age.

"Is this true?," Knuckles asked. The two girls nodded. "Yes. I lived with my adopted hedgehog brother Silver on the streets. He was sick since I knew him and I had to steal and earn money every day to afford his medicine. About a year ago, I went off once more, but when I came back, he was gone. He was too weak to move, he must've been kidnapped. I thought about this uke institute I had heard of and went to it, but it took me months to find it. When I finally got there and asked for Silver, I suddenly felt a sting in my neck and fell asleep. I woke up here.," Blaze explained.

She looked at Rouge to signal her to tell her story, too. "I work for GUN, my partner is a hedgehog named Shadow. We went a few months ago to arrest a criminal, but as the area was big, we split. He didn't return, unlike what we had agreed to do before, so I searched and found the body of the criminal we were supposed to arrest – with some of Shadow's quills in his hand. GUN searches for Shadow now because of murder, but I know he hasn't done it. He wouldn't do that. I went to this place, when I ran out of options of where he could be – and ended up like Blaze."

"If you work for GUN – won't they search for you, when you're missing for months?," Tails asked. Rouge snorted. "Yeah, right. If the Commander, my boss, would have a say in how the whole world should work, we would all be held in cages as exotic pets.," she growled.

Knuckles, finally clear in his head again, tried to break the straitjacket, but he found, that it was impossible. "Forget it, they're too strong.," Blaze said. "Now what? What are they gonna do to us?" "Nothing. They just keep us here.," Blaze explained. "At least they feed us...some strange concoction they call _food_." Rouge shrugged her shoulders. They both seemed pretty hopeless. But Knuckles refused to give up and started to rack his brain for a solution. He needed to get out of here and save Sonic!

* * *

When Sonic woke up again, he felt a little better. Still a little tired and his stomach and head still hurt, but it had been worse. He sat up and stretched to loosen his stiff muscles. He looked around and saw Shadow curled up on the bed next to him, sleeping peacefully, like a baby.

Before he could try to wake him up, he felt how something was placed in his lap. He looked down and saw a tray with a bowl of soup. He turned his head and saw Kylie next to him. "Good afternoon. Did you sleep well?," she asked.

"Yeah, I did, thanks." Hungrily, Sonic began to eat by drinking out of the bowl. "Do you want more?," Kylie inquired, seeing how quick the bowl got empty. "Yes, please. But what's with Shadow?"

Kylie looked up at the sleeping form, walked over to Shadow and covered him with the blanket. "So much for _I'm not tired_.," she chuckled silently, got Sonic's bowl and went to her office to get a new one. She returned a minute after that and gave him the food. Sonic ate up quickly. "Why is Shadow so tired?," he asked after finishing. "They put him on a lot of drugs. I managed to neutralize a bit, but he needs to sleep the rest off.," Kylie explained.

"Oh.," Sonic said sadly. He had wished to spend a little more time with Shadow as he could already imagine, that they didn't have much left together.

Kylie guessed, what was on his mind. She took the bowl and the tray and put them on the small table next to the bed. "Could you scoot over a little?," she asked friendly. Sonic nodded, a little confused, and obeyed. Kylie walked back to Shadow, picked the dark hedgehog gently up and, to Sonic's big joy, placed him next to him on the same bed. Sonic quickly covered him up and cuddled with him, purring and his tail wagging.

After a little while, he looked to Kylie, who sat at her desk. "When...will they come?," he asked. In this situation, it wasn't necessary to say anything more. "Tomorrow morning, at nine.," she answered. "I see." Sonic cuddled a little closer to Shadow for comfort, needing it right now. "What is going to happen? To me?," he asked. "Well, they will most likely send you back to paradise, I guess. It's the normal procedure."

Sonic's ears drooped. He hid his face in Shadow's chest fur and started to sob. Kylie came closer and hugged him gently. Shadow woke up from the noise and saw Kylie hugging the crying Sonic, who was in his arms. "W-what's wrong?," he asked. "Sonic is stressed and needs a hug.," Kylie summed it up. Shadow hugged him immediately with as much force as he dared. "Shh...Sonic, it's okay..." "N-no, it isn't! I want to go home! I don't want to be here!," he screamed, sobbing harder.

Kylie noticed, how much the stress strained his weakened body. She sighed, got up, walked over to her medicine cabinet, got out a bottle and put some of the liquid in a syringe. She came back to Sonic and gently injected him with the medicine. Sonic was too wrapped up in his pain to notice it. Kylie put the syringe away and gently hugged Sonic again.

After a short while, he calmed down enough to stop his crying. Just a few seconds later he fell asleep, completely exhausted. "You sedated him.," Shadow growled, pulling Sonic even closer, feeling protective. "Just lightly. He fell asleep, because he overexerted himself. Sadly, I am used to this. All ukes react like that. The worst part is, when they simply accept it. When they are broken. I hope, that Sonic can hold on, until I know a way out."

"Any ideas, yet?," Shadow asked. "No. As much trouble, as I make, I can be happy, when he doesn't let cameras install here, too. And even if he allowed me to go on dry land, I still wouldn't know, where to go." Kylie rubbed her hurting head in frustration.

"You haven't slept.," Shadow just said, observing the dark rings under her eyes. He wouldn't tell her to go to G.U.N., the commander would cage them all or get rid of the woman and support this guy.

Kylie sighed. She sat on another bed and nodded. "Yeah. To be honest, I was more concerned about Sonic the last two days." "Then rest. You aren't a help for anybody, when you can't think straight. Go to sleep. I'll wake you, if I need help with Sonic.," Shadow ordered. The overly tired woman nodded reluctantly. She laid down on the bed she had sat on and was out like a light. The female had to be as tired as Shadow and Sonic were.

* * *

Once their 'breakfast', a grayish stuff with the consistence of toothpaste and the smell of rotten fish, was shoved through a small slit in their cell door, the straitjackets of the five mobians loosened their sleeves, so they had enough slack to eat. They wanted them alive at least, even though they could only eat so much of the substance, before they felt sick.

Knuckles didn't plan on staying any longer. He had used the last day – they could only vaguely say, how much time passed, as the window was very small and let only little light through – to meditate and save his strength. Now, he was ready to bust them all out. First, he freed them all from the straitjackets, then he bust open the door and knocked the guards out.

Rouge, who really had white fur, as he saw now in the daylight, brought herself in the air. "I listened to their footsteps, they always came from the left, when they brought the food.," she explained. "Then let's go to the right.," Knuckles said and they started to run down the hallway, looking for an exit.

What they found, however, was a hall packed with armed soldiers, their guns all directed to them. "Now, you better behave and go back in your cell." Knuckles and Tails froze upon hearing that voice. They followed it and saw a familiar figure in the mass. Prof. Bryan.

"You.," Knuckles hissed. "You lied to us!," Tails shouted. The man laughed coldly. "Is it even POSSIBLE to lie to an ANIMAL?," he asked, amused. Knuckles clenched his fists. "Where is Sonic?" "And Silver?," Blaze added, her violet fur standing straight. "AND Shadow!," Rouge shouted.

"I don't know and I don't care. Maybe they are already dead.," he shrugged uncaringly. Blaze bared her fangs. Her yellow eyes gleamed dangerously, the red ruby on her forehead seemed to glow. Her fists started to shine in a fiery red. "Shut up.," she hissed. "Or he sold them." Bryan seemed to have lots of fun with imagining the cruelest faiths for the friends of the mobians. Small flames appeared on Blaze's fists. "Or he ate them, he HAS an exquisite taste after-"

"SHUT UP, NOW!" Knuckles just managed to jump aside, before the fireball Blaze had built could hit him. Instead, it flew in the mass of humans, making those, who got hit or were too close to the hot object, cry out in pain.

Everybody looked at Blaze, shocked, but not as shocked, as Blaze herself was. She watched her hands, on that danced flames without harming her. She hadn't known, that she could do that. Well, she had never before been this angry and desperate.

She closed her fists, flames surrounding them. She would find Silver – and nobody would DARE to stop her! "Where is Silver!?," she hissed, the flames burning hotter.

Bryan just kept on smirking. "If you think, that I'll back away from a cat on fire, you're mistaken. Get them!," he ordered.

The men – who still could – fired, but a firewall made by Blaze, who got more and more used to her newly developed powers, melted the sedative darts, before they could hit.

Amy let her hammer appear and then, the mobians jumped in the fight, only Tails backed away. He wasn't as strong as his friends and without his inventions pretty useless. Sonic would be quick to contradict, but without him, having self doubts was easy. He tried to find something, anything helpful, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his tails, that let him cry out in agony.

The other mobians immediately stopped, as they knew, that this was the cry of an injured young creature. They turned around quickly and saw Tails, kneeling on the floor, crying and tugging at his tails, that Prof. Bryan stood on. As the human was too heavy, Tails had no chance of freeing himself.

"Now, playtime's over. Give up, or your little friend will lose more than his tails." He directed a real gun to the whimpering fox's head.

Knuckles sighed and raised his hands above his head. Amy let her hammer disappear, Blaze her flames. Rouge landed. Then they raised their hands like Knuckles. Tails just sobbed, while Bryan ordered the men to get them and to lock them up at different places. This was all his fault! "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry.," he cried.

* * *

A loud noise let Kylie jump awake. She sat up and saw, that she was in her ward. She looked around and gasped: the ward was filled with security men, who tried to restrain a fighting Shadow in their middle. While she watched, three men were thrown across the room. The only one, who wasn't on edge in this room, was Sonic, but she saw the sedative dart in his arm, so this wasn't that surprising.

Kylie stood up and came closer to Shadow, pushing men aside without even acknowledging it. Her eyes were on Shadow only. She noticed a lot of sedative darts in his body, sticking out like misplaced quills with yellow tips. If this kept up, he would poison himself. He wasn't able to die, but he would suffer – and even more, if Perringten EVER found out about his immortality.

Without further thinking, she pressed past the last armed men, that stood in her way, went on her knees in front of the hedgehog and hugged the surprised being tightly, cutting her arms at his raised quills in the process. "Listen, you have to stop. The longer this keeps going, the sooner Sonic will wake up and try to help you!," she whispered in his ear, making sure, that no one could listen into their conversation.

Immediately, Shadow relaxed, no fight left in his body. He would never hurt Sonic, never risk him getting hurt. Noticing the change in his body language, some of the men grabbed Shadow and ripped him out of Kylie's grip, cutting her with his sharp quills more. As he was now more relaxed, he felt the sedative's effect and fell asleep almost instantly.

The men brought him out and Perringten entered. "Well done, Dr. Ellen! I admit it, I doubted, that you would survive with those two beasts in one room, but you pulled through perfectly! Now, get your wounds treated in the ward on the fifth floor. You have this day off." "But sir, number 299...!," Kylie tried to argue. "Oh, don't worry about it. It'll be in good hands." "But he'll need rest..." "It'll get plenty of it, once I'm done with it. See you tomorrow, Dr. Ellen." Kylie swallowed. She had to go. Otherwise, she would raise suspicion. Holding back her tears, she replied something, which was hopefully polite and went to the mentioned ward. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, you two.," she thought.

* * *

When Sonic woke up again, he lay on a hard, cold floor. Tremblingly, he sat up and looked around. He was in a room out of metal with no furniture, but four doors in every wall. Above him burnt a lamp. He stood up, still shaking from weakness, and it was this moment, when a loud, ear-splitting screech came from above him. He threw his hands to his ears, trying not to get deaf from the sound.

When it stopped, he looked up and saw, that all doors were open. He watched the darkness behind the frames suspiciously, but nothing more happened. Still on guard, he decided to take a look to try and find out, what this room was and maybe find a way to escape. He wondered, though: according to Kylie, he should've been sent to paradise – why was he here? As all of the passages looked the same, he just took one and walked through. Immediately, the steel door fell down behind him. He growled frustrated. Great. Trapped again.

He looked around. In front of him led a narrow way in darkness, thick stone walls, higher, than he could see, were left and right from him and seemed to know no end. "Forget it, I'm not playing this game.," Sonic thought. The walls were slippery for some reason, but close enough to each other, that he could climb up between them. He slid often, but he didn't give up.

After a few meters, however, he saw the end of the walls – and a net across it. He touched it. Steel. He couldn't rip it through or squeeze through the gaps, he barely fit an arm through one of them. He could, however, see a little over the edge of the walls and swallowed. This weren't just walls, this was the beginning of a maze! What was he, a lab rat?

For them? Oh, yes.

Sighing, he let himself fall. Normally, he would take this, like it was nothing, but this time, he felt a sharp sting in his lower abdomen, when he landed. He cried out, fell to his knees, wrapped his arms around his middle and panted, until the pain was at bay again.

"Right, the miscarriage...," he thought. Although he knew little to nothing about stuff like this, he could imagine, that the pain was quite normal. Carefully, he stood up. He should avoid moving too much for a while. Leaning with his hand against the right wall, he started to go deeper in the maze. He had to find a way out of here. Slowly, he walked around the first corner, his eyes used to the darkness by now.

Hours later, at least it felt like this much time had passed by now, he reached the middle of the maze, a round clearing with eight ways to go further. Exhausted, he sat down on the cold floor, massaging his belly, that had kept on hurting, since his painful landing a while ago. He had tried to massage the pain away, but it didn't help.

His ears twitched upon hearing something. He looked up and paled. In front of him stood dozens of semes, like the ones on paradise. How could they come so close without him noticing? He jumped up, his pain forgotten. "Leave me alone!," he hissed. Strangely, the semes backed off.

* * *

"Sir, number 299's stress levels are returning to normal.," one of the men in the central office reported, his eyes glued to the big monitor in front of him. One half of it showed the vitals of the uke, the other the hedgehog himself, strapped to a bed with an oxygen mask on his muzzle, through that he only inhaled a gas designed for him, that caused hallucinations. For them, the watchers, it was nothing but a dream – for him, everything he saw, heard, felt, smelt and even tasted, was absolutely real.

Perringten came closer, when he had been called and looked at the monitor with a frown. This shouldn't have happened! Resistant uke... "What concentration has the hallucinogen gas?," he asked. "Lowest concentration possible, sir." "Use the highest concentration, now.," Perringten ordered. "Yes, sir.," was the answer, spoken without hesitation, and the employee went to inform the scientists in the lab the uke was in.

* * *

They just stood there, semes and uke, looking at each other. Sonic slowly relaxed. At least he could hold them at bay, although he wasn't sure, how.

"Sonic!" His heart beat quicker upon hearing those voices. Behind the semes, he saw Shadow, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Cream, running to him. He felt tears of joy building in his eyes. "Guys, I'm so glad to see you!," he shouted, happy, that this was over.

Suddenly, however, the semes turned around to his friends, their quills raised and they were all snarling. Strangely, Sonic's friends and love didn't react to it, but continued to run to him. And this was, when the semes attacked. His friends and Shadow disappeared behind a wave of colorful furs and different quill styles.

"No! Stop it!," Sonic shouted and tried to get to his friends, who started to scream in pain. He could see blood splatter on the floor, unable to say, whose it was. The seme, who he had tried to pull off, threw him backwards, as if he was little more than a fly. He landed hard on the floor.

"Stop it, now!," he shouted again and tried to stand up, but for some reason, he couldn't, as if he was glued to the ground. The cries of his friends got weaker and his heart beat as fast, as his feet could run. "Stop it.," Sonic whispered, tears streaming down his face, feeling absolutely helpless. "Please, stop it.," he said, a little louder.

The cries suddenly stopped, like his heart nearly did from the pain. He felt something build inside him, a strange energy he never felt before. But it wasn't, like he could stop it, his attention was solely on the slaying semes. He watched, how one of the semes in the front row raised his bloody claw, without a doubt to deliver a final blow. It was this moment, that something in him snapped.

"STOP IT!"

* * *

"Sir, number 299-!" The monitor exploded, before the man could finish. "Sir, number 299's vitals are off the charts!," he said with a hint of panic in his voice.

Perringten smirked. He took his walking stick in his hand and ran – with a surprising speed for someone of his age – to the room, where the uke was contained.

The sudden shake, that went through the whole Island, only let him smirk more. He reached the room, that was only a bundle of debris, and observed the creature, that stood in its middle, ignoring the bodies of his scientists, that he stepped over to come closer to the dark blue hedgehog with raised quills and completely white eyes. He just stood there, letting dark blue energy swirl around him.

"Perfect. I knew it! I knew it!," Perringten cheered, like a little child. The hedgehog now noticed the human and growled, his energy turning darker. "Now, now, be a good little hedgehog." He took out a remote and pressed the big red button on it.

The uke cried out, when electricity surged through his body, thanks to his new collar, that Perringten had put on him personally, to ensure, that he could control him, should his theory be right. The hedgehog fell on his knees, hissing and tugging at the collar, too much depending on his instincts to speak.

"You're mine, understood? You're going to do EVERYTHING I want from you-" He interrupted himself, when his 'property' broke off the collar. "W-what!? H-how!?," he stammered, let the remote fall and backed away, until he hit the wall with his back.

The hedgehog stood up and came slowly closer, stepping on the remote and crushing it. He balled his fists, collecting dark energy in them, forming a round structure, a ball. Without hesitation, he raised his hand to throw it on his helpless victim. The energy ball missed its target by not even an inch, hitting the wall next to Perringten's head, making the man faint.

The reason for his survival had been the only female being on the Island, that had the squirming dark hedgehog in a tight embrace, ignoring the burns of his energy, the cuts of his quills and the claw- and bite marks he caused her during his struggle.

Kylie had of course noticed, that something was off and looked for the source. That way she had found Sonic – although he was barely recognizable, she had known, that nobody else would have this energy – about to kill Perringten. Just when he had wanted to throw his energy ball, she had quickly jumped on him with a hug, causing the attack to miss, the impact let the man fall unconscious.

Sonic wasn't done yet, however, and tried desperately to free himself, most likely, to kill more. He didn't have any sense left, it seemed. Kylie knew, that, sooner or later, he would hurt the innocent ukes and semes and that was her only reason to stop him. She kept hugging him, trying to find a way to calm this bundle of instincts down. He most likely hadn't killed her yet, because he somewhere in his mind recognized her scent, but for how long would this stop him?

While she was trying to find a way to calm her friend down, something strange happened. The dark energy burnt her once again, this time on her temple, and she suddenly saw images flashing before her eyes. A couple of mobians, among them Shadow, being attacked and killed by a horde of semes. It didn't take her long to understand: this was something Sonic had seen – for whatever reason – and held for real. But she knew, that Shadow was in his cell, he hadn't been ripped to pieces, like the other mobians she saw most likely hadn't, too. It was all an illusion, a hallucination!

"Sonic, please, please listen to me. Shadow is fine!," Kylie said in his ear. Sonic stopped squirming, his ear twitching, while trying to process, what he had heard. "Shadow is absolutely fine.," Kylie stressed, carefully rubbing circles in his back to soothe him more, trying not to cut off her fingers in the process. "Your friends are safe, Shadow is safe, you are safe. Everything's fine, calm down.," she whispered soothingly.

Sonic started to relax. The energy and his fur got lighter and returned to normal, his eyes did so, too. The now blue energy washed over her and she could watch, how the burns on her arms disappeared, together with the pain. After she was completely healed, the energy faded and Sonic collapsed, panting. Kylie cradled him carefully, looking at him. The poor hedgehog was really weak and sick. Whatever this energy had been, it had hurt him in a way she couldn't name.

"Dr. Ellen?" Perringten stood up shakily next to her. He was pale, but otherwise fine. _Great._

"How did you...?," he started. "A sedative, sir.," she answered quickly, hoping he didn't want to see the syringe she didn't have.

"I see...," he said simply and looked at the men, that just came running to them. _Those cowards have obviously waited, until the_ big bad uke _had been tamed by the_ woman., Kylie thought bitterly.

"Take 299 to cell C-03. And give him a new collar.," Perringten just ordered. Again, Sonic was taken from her. Kylie bit her lip to not cry in front of those sadists, when they took the weakened uke out of her arms.

"See you tomorrow, Dr. Ellen. Good job.," Perringten praised before staggering away, feeling the aftershock now.

Kylie kept kneeling on the ground for a while, trying to find her composure again. The only good thing, that came from this, was, that Perringten had a little more respect for her, she had heard it in his voice. Maybe she could use it for her friends

...somehow.

* * *

Slowly, Sonic opened his eyes. He was lying on something soft and around him were lots of colors. He blinked to clear his sight and frowned upon seeing lots of pillows and blankets, that filled the room. He sat up, looked around more and saw a – most likely locked – door behind a glass wall on his right and soft, cushioned walls on every other side of the room. The wall in front of him had a big mirror that was cut off with the wall on his left. Just what kind of cell was this? Or did they want him to feel...what? Comfortable? Safe? Home? Yeah, right!

He flinched, when a part of the ceiling a few feet away from him opened and a tray was let down on a metal plate with ropes at its four angles. On the tray was food, some fruits and vegetables, from what he could see, but he didn't trust this, as he knew, that it came from humans. But there was one more reason for him to hold back...

He looked away from the tray, thinking. He didn't remember much, since he fell asleep in Kylie's ward, but he had the feeling, that they did something horrible to him. Something, that made him lose all appetite and scared him. He shivered, pressed his back in one corner and curled up into a ball, as much, as he could, with his – for some reason he couldn't recall, either – hurting body. Before he could stop himself, he started to cry.

* * *

When Kylie came in her ward the next day, she nearly got a heart attack upon seeing strangers, who were busy packing her personal stuff in boxes. "W-what are you doing!?," she shouted at the men, who ignored her.

"Ah, Dr. Ellen! Always punctual, one of the many qualities I like about you!" Kylie nearly jumped out of her skin, when she heard Perringten's voice behind her. She turned around quickly.

The old man stood there with his walking stick like always, for some reason, he seemed happy. "Sir, I don't understand this, I never did anything wrong!," Kylie said. emWell, I did, all the time, but you don't know it.../em "Oh, you misunderstand, Dr. Ellen. I'm not firing you, I'm promoting you to a higher rank.," Perringten chuckled.

Kylie blinked. _WHAT!?_ "M-me!? W-why!?," she stammered. "Why so doubting ? Or is it modesty? Don't think I didn't remember, what you did these past days.," Perringten grinned, still in a really good mood. He motioned her to follow him out of the ward and then through a maze out of hallways. "I saw, how you tamed number 125 and 299 with little more than ease. I admit it, I was impressed. That's why I want you to be responsible for the most important section of my little empire.," Perringten explained on his way.

Kylie didn't know, what to say and it didn't seem necessary, as he continued without an answer. He most likely thought she was stunned...which was more or less the reason for her silence.

"Tell me, Dr. Ellen, what do you know about the hierarchy of hedgehogs, how it was in older days?," he asked. "I...er...," Kylie stammered, panicking a little. She didn't know anything about that, she had never before heard of it!

To her surprise – and slight horror – Perringten laughed. "Got ya! This was a fang ask, you couldn't know anything! This is an information I don't share with everyone, only with those I deem worthy." Perringten was still oddly happy and it started to creep Kylie out.

"You see, eras ago, mobian hedgehogs lived together in huge colonies, with two hundred to three hundred members. They were divided in four classes. The lowest and most unimportant class are the Deltas, they can't do anything. Sadly, they are the biggest class, too."

This comment confused Kylie. What should that mean? "The next class is the class of Gammas. They have some powers, but they can easily get overpowered by the next class, the Betas. They are even more powerful. And on top are the Alphas, just two hedgehogs with powers beyond believe! Can you imagine, what I could do, if I had such an Alpha at my command?" A creepy spark appeared in his dark eyes.

Kylie swallowed. She saw a pattern there... "Of course, hedgehogs are known to be quite untameable, they aren't pets. That is...adults aren't.," Perringten continued.

"So...you are breeding the ukes..." Kylie started to understand – and to feel sick. "Yes, I plan on using the power of the ukes by taming suitable pups. Sadly, the chance to get a Gamma or Beta from the deltas is quite slim, no luck until now. All the pups were worthless."

Now, Kylie really felt sick. She knew Perringten good enough by now to imagine, what he did to those he deemed 'worthless'.

"But there is still hope! Among all those ukes, I managed to find a Gamma, a Beta and even an Alpha!," Perringten continued happily. He opened a door and led Kylie in a room full of monitors and computers to both sides and a big one way window, that showed three cells behind it, at the other end of the room. The separated cells were all full of pillows and blankets with one hedgehog in those small rooms each.

Kylie's heart broke, as she knew those three. "This here is number 102." Perringten gestured to the right hedgehog, a green furred one, that Kylie had last seen in her ward, when Sonic had been there, after his overdose.

He sat with his back to the window, his quills raised, his face pressed between his knees. Scars were noticeable under his thin, unkempt and dirty fur.

"He's a Gamma. He resisted the drugs and fought the semes off, but it was quite easy to finally get him to mate. However, three times he didn't end up pregnant and the fourth time only worked because of a special medication. For some reason, he is able to turn himself barren and fertile, like he wishes. It was a struggle to go around that, believe me. Anyway, as you may know, he somehow managed to free himself from his restraints and aborted the pups by force. I believe, he was in your ward to get stitched up?," Perringten asked, showing no emotion at all, while telling the shocked Kylie, how he managed to break the last resistance and protection of a living, feeling creature.

Kylie needed a second to snap out of her thoughts and to notice, that she had been asked a question and nodded. "Good, then I don't need to tell you much more."

This was true, Kylie knew this uke. His name was Scourge, he had been a criminal, when he had been captured. After every single one of his 'matings', he had been brought to her to get treated, as he had fought off the semes, until he had had no energy left in him, which had resulted in sometimes very serious injuries. During her treatments, they had talked. Well, SHE had talked, he wasn't quite a speaker. Still, he had reminded her of her son like he was now, a moody teenager – that's why she liked being with him alone and talk with him without him answering all too much. It was a feeling of home for her.

"This one here is even a Beta!," Perringten explained, snapping her out of her thoughts again and motioned to the hedgehog in the middle, a silver furred male, who looked younger, than Scourge. He sat at the wall farthest away from the window, in the middle of it, hugging his knees and looking down to the ground. Unlike Scourge, he wasn't harmed, although his fur had also seen better days. Tears ran down his cheeks and his ears were pressed to his skull, while he was shivering in obvious fear. "Number 245, the only virgin on this Island. Every seme, that tried to come closer, didn't make it, because of a protective energy, that kept them away. Nothing I, or my scientists, tried, worked.," Perringten explained, torn between his excitement of having a Beta and his annoyance of not finding a way to get this uke to mate.

Kylie knew this male, too, his name was Silver. The poor thing had been deadly sick with a quite rare, but thankfully curable disease, when he came here a year ago. Still, he had spent months in the ward and they had become friends. Silver had often talked with her and cheered her up and vice versa. Letting the men take him away to become a breeder like the others, had broken her heart like nothing before. She had tried to find out, where he was, like she did with Sonic, but his number never appeared again, so she had feared the worst. She didn't know, if seeing him again like that was better, than thinking, that he was dead.

"And here is number 299, as you know already, of course. To be honest, I thought, he was a Gamma, maybe a Beta, but no, he truly is an Alpha!," Perringten continued while showing her Sonic in the left cell. He had curled himself up with his back to them, lying on his side. The calm rhythm of his breathing told her, that he slept.

"Now, Dr. Ellen, those three ukes are your responsibility and as I said, it's the most important task here." He turned towards her. "Those are the ukes I want to breed, but as you can see here," he motioned to a monitor with three pictures of the ukes and – quite poor – vitals from each of them, "they are a little under the weather.," _They are SICK, or are you BLIND!?_ "Your task will it be to get them better. You will personally supervise their medication and food supply, you send your orders to the canteen and your old ward and get both send here for a last check of yours, before you give it to them. Once they are better, it'll be your responsibility, that they are properly bred and give birth to healthy offspring. I'll be going then, your personal belongings will be brought to you shortly, someone else will take over your job in the ward, so you can solely concentrate on this task. Please ask me, if there is any problem. Good luck, Dr. Ellen." With that, he went and left the room.

Perringten wasn't even gone for a minute, before Kylie broke down crying. He had just made her to a monster similar to him.


	10. A deal with the devil

Finally, there will be Mephilver and Fleetourge, too! Did you really think I forgot that? Oh, and before you ask - yes, Mephiles has a mouth. I didn't want to concentrate on that, so he simply has one.

* * *

 **10: A deal with the devil**

A blue ear twitched upon hearing a strange noise. It wasn't the tray with food, so he looked up. He backed away, when he saw, that the wall opposite of the door sunk in the ground. Instead of leaving an empty space, where the wall had been, a row of mattresses, as new as they ever could be, appeared out of the floor, that turned around quickly to reveal them, making them build a very flat and soft frontier.

Sonic looked past it and discovered two more hedgehogs with him in the now larger room, a silver one and a green one. The silver one was closer to him and looked terrified from left to right, obviously, the walls on his both sides had moved and scared him. The green hedgehog, instead, looked with dull blue eyes over his shoulder and turned slowly, on guard, around, so that he faced the now bigger room. Something told Sonic, that the other two were also ukes, it let him feel a little safer. Ukes didn't rape ukes, as far as he was concerned.

"Hello.," he started. The silver hedgehog, who seemed about fourteen years old, looked at him, insecure. "H-hi...," he rasped, being pretty hoarse. "What's your name?," Sonic asked, feeling already protective towards the younger one. "I-I'm Silver. And y-you?" "Just call me Sonic. And you?," he asked the green hedgehog, that looked quite like him. He rolled his eyes. "Scourge.," he grumbled. "Y-you're not going to hurt me...right?," Silver asked, scared.

Sonic crawled closer – as weak as his legs were, as sick as he felt, since he woke up here for the first time, and as unsteady as the floor was, he didn't try to stand up and walk – until he could pet the younger one's head, like he used to do it with Tails. "Don't worry, nobody's going to hurt you, as long, as I'm here, promise." Silver smiled shyly and allowed Sonic to sit next to him.

They both looked over to Scourge and he slowly came a little closer. Sonic noticed the many wounds on his body, that made movement most likely very painful, while Silver was strangely unharmed. Not that he minded, he was not older than fourteen, Sonic estimated, while Scourge was maybe eighteen, a little older than him. They both didn't deserve being in this place and he wanted nothing more, than to protect those two.

All three hedgehogs looked up, when a new tray, bigger this time and with three portions of fruit, was let down from the ceiling. "Are you hungry?," Scourge asked, it sounded like a challenge. The other two shook their heads, ignoring the grumbling of their stomachs.

* * *

24 hours passed and Kylie was close to giving up. No matter, what she tried, the ukes refused to eat and drink and even to sleep (although they did nap, for a few minutes now and then) and got weaker and weaker. She had convinced Perringten to let them meet, as ukes were very social, and although they got to be friends already, they still refused to eat and it was obvious, that they had gotten worse since yesterday.

Of course, she could have just shown her face and they would have eaten, but she knew, what she had to do to them sooner or later and therefore, she was afraid. She didn't want to lose their trust, hurt them more with her betrayal.

While looking for a solution, she browsed through their files and noticed something interesting. Not only Sonic had built a relationship in this hell – Silver and Scourge did, too. They both had had close contact to two semes, who were locked away right now...in cells like Shadow's. Coincidence? Absolutely not!

Running out of options – and time, as the ukes were getting worse by the minute, it seemed at least like that – she decided, that this was the only solution.

She left the room and made her way up to the top floor, where Perringten's office was. She had never been there and was a little curious about how it would look like. She imagined all kinds of offices, from terrifying, with hedgehog skins at the walls, to absolutely crazy, with flower print wallpaper.

She was nearly too deep in thought to notice the thick oak wood door of the office she had thought of so much. Just in time she stopped, knocked loudly and entered.

To her surprise, the room looked like a typical study: a desk in front of a big window, a giant globe on her left with lots of tiny colorful flags on it, filled bookshelves at all walls. She jumped a little, when the chair behind the desk turned around and she was face to face with Perringten. "Dr. Ellen, what is it?," he asked calmly.

Kylie took a mental breath before she started speaking. "Sir, I might have found a solution for curing the ukes.," she started. Perringten looked at her with interest. "I could read in the files, that each uke grew close with a seme. I would try to let ukes and semes meet. As I experienced with 125 and 299, the semes might be able to help heal the ukes.," she explained, relieved, that she had an argument like her 'experience'.

"Hm..." Perringten pressed his fingertips against each other and looked at Kylie with a piercing glare while thinking. "The semes would for sure try to flee...," she heard him mumble.

Suddenly, he stood up, startling Kylie a bit, got out his mobile, dialed and put it to his ear, waiting for a response. "Perringten here.," he finally said. "Take the ukes of cell C and bring them to laboratory 08 for the aforementioned procedure.," he ordered and ended the call. He noticed Kylie's worried look, she knew of course, that those ukes were Sonic, Silver and Scourge. "Don't worry, it won't harm them.," he said. For some reason, she had the feeling, that he had left out the word 'yet' at the end of the sentence.

She hoped dearly, that she hadn't dug six graves with her suggestion.

* * *

Sonic woke up from his forced slumber. He noticed, that they were in the same cell as before, Scourge and Silver lay next to him. He just remembered, that one of the glass walls – there was one at each end left and right of the cell, with a door behind it – opened, together with the door and a man with a gun had entered, shot a dart in each of their bodies...and then nothing. As he hadn't eaten in days, the sedative had taken effect quickly, with the other two it was the same, he presumed.

Carefully, Sonic sat up and looked down on him. He was relieved to see, that nothing had been done to him. Next to him, Scourge sat up, groaning. He looked down, then at Sonic. "You have a new collar.," they both stated at the same time, as if they were twins.

They wore a simple brown leather collar, like a pet dog or cat would wear it. With a look on Silver between them, they noticed, that he had the same. Did they have their powers back? Hard to say, he was too weak and in too much pain to move, let alone run. Besides, his gut feeling told him, that this collar wasn't normal.

"Hey." His ear, that was closer to the voice, perked and he looked over to Scourge again. "Shouldn't...Silver be up by now?," he asked. Sonic's eyes widened. The small male was still sleeping peacefully. "Silver? Hey, Silver, wake up!" He shook a silver furred shoulder without success. "Maybe the sedative isn't worn off yet...because he's smaller?," Scourge guessed, he sounded pretty worried. Although he had seemed quite cold, Sonic was sure, that it was just an act, he cared for others, like he did. "I hope it..." Sonic searched for a pulse at the thin wrist. "His pulse is normal, at least.," he breathed in relief.

It was this moment, that Scourge started screaming in pure agony, startling the poor blue hedgehog.

* * *

Shadow didn't know, when the drugs had been replaced by a sedative, but when he woke up, he was in a barren metal room with an one way window in one of the walls, that was nothing but a mirror from his perspective. As he noticed, after standing up, he wasn't alone. Two other hedgehogs just woke up next to him.

He groaned, annoyed, as he knew them. One of them looked quite like him, but with turquoise stripes, pale fur on his muzzle and snakelike green eyes. He wore a collar like he had, with the number 143.

The other hedgehog had golden fur, a fawn belly and arms, swirling red eyes, ruffled raised quills and sharp teeth. His collar had number 101.

"Mephiles, Fleetway.," he growled. The others looked at him. "If it isn't _Agent_ Shadow.," his dark 'twin' – they weren't related – Mephiles sneered. Fleetway, the golden hedgehog, also recognized him and grinned.

He and Mephiles were criminals, so Shadow was their enemy. "Good that you're here, I could use some exercise.," Fleetway grinned and cracked his knuckles.

Before he or Mephiles could attack, however, the one way window turned into a normal one and they saw a human on the other side. Shadow recognized him, it was the human, that had been in the ward, the boss of the woman.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen, hope you had a nice nap.," the old man grinned. "Who are you and what are we doing here?," Mephiles asked. "Straight to the point, I like that. My name is Jester Perringten, I am responsible for everything that happens here..."

"Oh, so you're this sicko, who captures us to fuck our brains out?," Fleetway sneered, interrupting him. "How rude. You see, I am...collecting. I collect very rare ukes and I need your help with some of them.," Perringten explained. "Yeah right. I would rather die, than help some bastard like you.," Fleetway replied coldly, as usual straight forward.

Perringten's smile didn't disappear. "You should watch your tongue, or it could become... painful.," he said calmly. "Really? Try me.," the light furred male replied.

Shadow asked himself, just for how long Fleetway had been caged here to be so reckless and – to say the least – stupid.

Perringten chuckled, obviously amused. "Oh, I didn't talk about you. I know semes like you, you are quite resistant to pain, even the worst torture can't break you." His eyes became cold. "But there is a little something, that breaks all semes and I gladly show it to you." He grabbed something the hedgehogs couldn't see and they tensed, trying to brace themselves for any kind of pain.

However, they couldn't have prepared for what he did.

By pressing a button on a remote, four little monitors flashed on the glass between the mobians and the human.

Shadow's jaw fell. On three of the monitors were pictures of one uke each – Sonic, Scourge, another criminal who often worked together with Fleetway, and a silver furred, seemingly younger uke with golden eyes. They looked like they were taken randomly, the picture of Sonic showed him sitting on his container on paradise, Scourge seemed to run from something and the silver male was curled up in a ball in a corner out of metal.

Under those three pictures was a video, a live stream from a surveillance camera, he guessed, that showed all three ukes together in an ocean of pillows and blankets.

Sonic and Scourge just sat up left and right to the unknown uke, talking with each other. It was hard to say about what, as the video was muted. The silver male between them was seemingly sleeping.

"Ah, I see, you recognize them?," Perringten brought them back to the present. Shadow looked at Mephiles and Fleetway, they both had their eyes glued to the live stream. Had they grown close to the other two ukes, like he did with Sonic? "What have you done to Silver!?," Mephiles growled, obviously meaning the uke he didn't know, verifying his assumption.

On the screen, Sonic and Scourge tried without success to wake Silver. Shadow could imagine, that they had been sedated at the same time and were now worried, as the youngest – he couldn't be older than fourteen – among them still slept.

"Oh, nothing. He's simply tired. I needed the ukes to take a nap not too long ago to give them one of those." He showed them a seemingly normal collar one would give their pets, but Shadow noticed some metal on the inside. He looked at the screen and really, all three ukes wore such a collar, all having a brown color. "This little thing here is much better, than their old ones, it not only suppresses their powers, it also gives them a small electric shock, when I press a button on here." He showed them another remote.

"Why should you do that? You need the ukes to be healthy, don't you?," Shadow asked, swallowing every curse he wanted to shoot at him. He had to restrain himself, or Sonic would suffer. "Oh, the electricity doesn't harm them enough to turn them barren, but enough to show them and _you,_ where their place is.," Perringten grinned.

"You are the most despicable, sick creature I ever met.," Fleetway hissed, not at all getting the threat Perringten had just spoken out.

The human looked at him and smiled cruelly. "Seems like you haven't listened properly. Maybe a demonstration is in order."

He raised his hand with the remote and pressed one of the buttons. Immediately, a scream filled the room and they could see Scourge on the stream, screaming in agony and rolling around, trying to get the collar off. Sonic, totally shocked, had grabbed Silver and brought himself and the other out of the green uke's range, so they wouldn't get hit by his flailing limbs.

"Stop! Stop it!" Fleetway clawed at the image of his writhing uke. It was the only thing he could think of in his panicked state. "Please, please, please, stop it! Please!" Sobbing, he fell to his knees and hid his face in his claws. Scourge was suffering! Because of him! What could he do!?

His ears perked, when it became silent. He looked up, fearing the worst, but was relieved when he saw Scourge lying on his side, alive, panting and trying to breathe normal again, with Sonic, who had laid down Silver a few feet away, bent over him and trying to help. The video was muted again.

"I think, I got the point across.," Perringten said and put the remote away. "Now, I want you to listen carefully. As you might have noticed, _your_ three ukes aren't feeling too well. They refuse to eat and have grown sick. Like this, they aren't worth anything. I want you to go to them and bring them back to better health. Make sure they are strong enough to carry offspring."

Six fists balled upon hearing that and growls were suppressed desperately. "If it is any comfort for you, you will father the children." Perringten made an uncaring gesture. "Anyway, I'm just warning you once: if you try to leave the cell without my consent, try to flee or harm any of my men, your ukes will suffer the consequences. Did I make myself clear?"

The semes didn't react, but Perringten knew, that they listened to every word he said. They would never endanger their ukes, even if they wouldn't die from the electricity, they would spare them any pain by instinct.

That's, what he thought – the feeling _love_ was alien for him.

"Good. Then go, you're starting right away." The automatic door behind the semes, that had been close to invisible the whole time, opened.

Without a word, the semes turned around and walked out. The hallway they now stood in was full with guards, who seemed to watch their every movement, forming a second hallway in the normal one. They followed it to the cell of their ukes.

They walked side by side. Fleetway wiped away his tears. He and Mephiles looked at Shadow, as if searching for help. "We have no choice, we play along.," Shadow murmured under his breath, too low for the human ears and barely audible for the mobians. "Obey and the ukes will be safe. That's all, that counts right now. No fights, as long, as the ukes are close, got it?" The others nodded, barely visible. They kept being silent the rest of the way.

* * *

Sonic watched, how Scourge tried to recover. He wanted nothing more than cry: those collars were worse, than the last! And why did Scourge get these shocks? They were at their mercy, it seemed a random doing. It just made him fear this place more.

He flinched, when one of the glass walls moved up. He was torn between crawling in the corner farthest away from this door and staying where he was, so Silver and Scourge wouldn't get hurt. When the door opened, he was crying pitifully in despair, the stress, undernourishment and the sleep deprivation getting to him.

Suddenly, however, strong, yet gentle arms lifted him up and a familiar scent entered his nose.

* * *

Shadow would have liked to hurry, to run, knowing, how frightened Sonic had to be right now, as the attack on Scourge was without a reason, out of his perspective. But he had to stop himself: if he rushed, the humans would get the wrong idea and punish Sonic. So, he restrained himself and waited patiently with the other two for the cell door to open, when they stood in front of it.

Once the door was open, they stepped inside. His heart broke upon seeing the crying Sonic next to the trembling Scourge.

The door slammed shut behind him and he rushed to Sonic, picking him up in his arms. Sonic looked up, his eyes red from the crying, dark rings under his eyes from exhaustion, his fur matted with sweat, his face red from fever.

"Sh-Shadow?," he whispered hoarsely. Suddenly, he hugged him. "I-I thought y-you were d-dead!," he sobbed. "Shh, shh. Everything's fine, Sonic, try to relax. You need to rest.," Shadow soothed, rubbing his back. It was obvious, that he hadn't slept in a while. "I-I can't... th-they gave us those collars, they hurt Scourge! I-I don't know how, I-I need to p-protect Scourge and Silver.," he sobbed.

Shadow nuzzled him. "Sonic, it's okay, my friends will protect them. You can sleep." Well, they weren't his friends, but that was a story for another time.

Even though his words calmed Sonic a little, he still cried some more, having to let out all of his emotions, that he had saved up until now. After a while, his sobs got quieter. He leaned weakly against Shadow's shoulder, his eyes drooping. Only a few seconds later, he was deeply asleep.

Shadow walked with him on his arms over into the farthest corner, that smelt the most like Sonic, put one of the blankets on one of the mattresses, added a pillow, placed Sonic on the makeshift bed and covered him up, sitting next to him.

* * *

Mephiles walked slowly to his slumbering uke and picked him up. Silver noticed it subconsciously and blinked his eyes open. He was too thin and his usually shining eyes were lifeless. His body felt hot and his breathing was ragged.

"M-Mephiles?," he whispered, his voice hoarse and tired, the sedative had yet to wear off. "Hey, Silv.," Mephiles replied gently. The younger male smiled weakly and leaned his head against the other's shoulder. "I'm happy, that you're here.," he mumbled and fell asleep once more.

Mephiles knew, that Silver wasn't used to a bed – thanks to his powers, that weren't gone, just weakened, the small male had been able to show Mephiles, how he had lived, with the help of telepathy – that's why he held him close with one arm and built a nest-like structure out of the pillows and blankets with the other.

Finally satisfied with his work, he laid Silver down, covered him up and sat down next to him, watching his breathing.

* * *

"Scourge!" Once the door was closed, Fleetway ran to the green hedgehog, who rolled on his hands and knees, when he felt the other's presence and lifted himself up, not raising his head.

"G-good that y-you're h-here, F-Fleet.," he wheezed breathlessly, while forcing himself on his feet. "With you..., breaking out... should be... easy.," he managed to bring out between his pants. He trembled like crazy, even standing up had robbed him of more of his energy, than anyone would have thought.

He was too thin, two fairly fresh scars were on his torso, they looked infected and it was obvious, that he had a fever. Still, his willpower let him stand straight and not give up.

Gently, Fleetway hugged the weakened male, before he could collapse, not sure what else to do with the uke he saw more as a good friend, than his love...or so he thought. "No, Scourge, not now. You need to rest, you're-"

Quiet snoring let him interrupt himself. Scourge was already asleep, leaning against his shoulder, exhausted from the shocking and his health issues. Fleetway smiled, picked the hedgehog carefully up bridal style, prepared a bed, like Shadow did on the other side of the cell, placed Scourge on it and covered him up, before taking a seat next to him.

With that, all three ukes got their well deserved rest for the first time in days.

* * *

Kylie breathed in relief. After Scourge's fit, that had been caused by the collar – she didn't need to know, what it did in detail to know, that it was responsible for his pain, she had seen, how Scourge had tried to pull it off – the semes she had read about and Shadow had come in the cell of the ukes. They had coaxed the overly tired males to rest finally, which they now did, watched by the semes.

Before she could wonder, why the semes didn't think about exploring the cell for a way out, Perringten came into the room with a satisfied grin.

"I see they did their job.," he said while watching the semes. He held out a remote to her. "Here, take this." Kylie took it and looked at the three buttons in the colors of the three ukes: blue, green and white.

"This is the remote for the uke's collars, I'll give the guards around here copies in due time. Should one of them misbehave, punish the uke directly or punish the seme by electrocuting the uke. I'll count on you." And he left her again.

Kylie swallowed. He would know, if she disobeyed. She hoped, that the semes behaved, she could never press one of those buttons.

* * *

A few hours had passed, since the ill ukes had fallen asleep. The semes sat at their sides, watching them carefully.

They tensed, when they heard a foreign noise. They looked up and saw a part of the ceiling at the other end of the cell open and three trays next to each other, that were on a long metal plate with ropes on each of its corners, being let down.

The semes exchanged a glance, before Shadow, after checking Sonic, to make sure, that he didn't need anything, stood up and went closer to the tray.

On it were plates with food and little tags with their collar numbers. For the ukes, there were soups and mashed fruit and also tea and for the semes meat – luckily not raw – and water in plastic cups. Shadow took the soup for Sonic and sniffed it. Chicken soup, he couldn't smell anything suspicious.

But then he saw something, that had been under the bowl he still held in his hand. It was a piece of paper, smaller than his palm, with the drawing of a remote. And he knew, what remote. He got the message: they were constantly watched and if they didn't obey and did, what those humans wanted from them, the ukes would suffer – and right now, they should make them eat.

He crumbled the paper, put it in his mouth and swallowed it, making it disappear this way. He wouldn't scare Sonic with this. They wanted the ukes healthy and for now, he would assume, that the food wasn't spiked with drugs. Shadow took the bowl with the mashed fruits in his free hand, straightened himself and walked back to Sonic.

He noticed the stares of the other two, they had of course heard and seen the paper, but not the message and wanted to know, what it was. "Get your ukes to eat something, they're starved.," Shadow just said calmly.

He cleared a little space from all pillows and blankets, so he could put the bowls there without spilling something. He went back once more to get the drinks for them, as he didn't feel like eating. He didn't need to eat that necessarily, but he couldn't dehydrate himself, that wouldn't end well. Mephiles and Fleetway copied his behavior, getting the message without having to read it.

While they were at it, Shadow knelt down next to Sonic and gently shook him. "Sonic? Hey, wake up!," he whispered. The blue hedgehog groaned unwillingly, but pried his eyes open. "Sh-Shadow? What's wrong?," he mumbled groggily. "Nothing, don't worry. But you should eat, you look hungry." Or better: starved.

Sonic shook his head, waking up a little more. "N-no.," he said. "Why not? What's wrong?," Shadow asked. He watched, how the other got more and more nervous. "They...they did something to me. I...I don't know what, but...but...I-I'm scared." Sonic trembled and hugged himself, sniffing. To make it worse, his breathing started to become unhealthily fast.

"Sonic, Sonic calm down!" Shadow took the panicking uke in his arms and hugged him tightly. "Please, Sonic, calm down. You shouldn't work yourself up that much." "I-I can't help it. S-something has changed...I...I feel like a monster! I don't deserve to eat!," Sonic sobbed.

Even though he didn't remember anything of his dark form, he still had the feeling, that something was off. As if something evil had crept in his body and lingered there. He weakened himself to never let it appear again.

"Sonic, listen to me." Shadow gently tilted his uke's head, so he would look at him. "You aren't a monster and whatever they did to you, I'll protect you from the consequences. You don't have to be scared, as long, as I'm here, okay?," the dark seme soothed.

Sonic nodded tiredly, calming down again. Shadow shifted him a little, so that he sat on his lap, took the spoon, that had been in the soup bowl and brought it to Sonic's lips. "Come on, Sonic, eat at least a little. Only one spoon, please?," Shadow asked and hesitantly, Sonic opened his mouth to eat. He swallowed the delicious liquid.

"Like it?," Shadow asked. Sonic nodded. "Do you want more?" Again nodding. Shadow smiled and slowly fed the soup, then the mashed fruit and finally the tea to him one by one, encouraging him again and again, when he hesitated. Sonic ate, allowing himself to be hungry, at least as long, as Shadow was here with him.

* * *

Silver woke up from the scent of food. He opened his eyes and saw the bowls at the edge of his little nest. "Hey, Silv. Are you hungry?," Mephiles asked.

Silver frowned and hid himself in the blanket. "No!," he said in a muffled voice. Mephiles gently lifted the blanket and looked at the curled up form. "Why not?," he asked confused. "Th-they put bad stuff in the food." Silver wasn't educated enough to know terms like _drugs_ or _sedatives_ ; he knew, what it did to his body, though. He had often enough experienced it here to the point, that he feared food.

"In here isn't bad stuff. I promise, it's safe.," Mephiles reassured. Silver hesitated, but then he came out of his hiding spot and tried to sit up. As weak as he was, it wasn't an easy task and finally, Mephiles decided to pick the male up and set him in his lap to feed him his meal. Without having to fear anything in his food, the young male happily ate, what Mephiles fed to him, his tail wagging a little.

* * *

Scourge opened his eyes, when Fleetway was just returning with the drinks – like the other two semes, he wasn't keen on eating anything and had left the dish for him alone – and looked around, as much, as he could, his body still hurt from the electroshocks.

"Hey, Scourge. Are you feeling any better?," Fleetway asked concerned, when he noticed the other's lack of movement. That wasn't normal for him at all.

"Not really.," Scourge mumbled. "Come, eat something, then you'll feel better." "Forget it." Scourge tried to turn away, but his body hurt too much to succeed. "Why not? Aren't you hungry?," Fleetway asked.

"No, that's not it. Those sickos just want us to be healthy so we can get pregnant. I'm not playing along. Do you know, how often they let one of those sex crazed beasts on me? How often they succeeded? I'm not going to let them win and if I have to starve to death for that.," he growled, pretending, as if these past weeks on the Island hadn't affected him that much, but they had.

He had never been someone to give up, but...here... He was close. So painfully close to consider any way of escape. Even a permanent one.

"Scourge, that's madness. And this isn't you, either! Since when are you letting the other win?," the golden seme asked. Fleetway knew, that encouraging Scourge to eat would sooner or later lead to even more rape, but he would get shocks again, if he didn't. Right now, his uke's health was his main concern.

Green ears twitched upon hearing that. "W-what do you mean?," Scourge asked, confused – and also a little offended. "Those sadists are most likely keen on seeing you as a defenseless, weak uke. Are you really going to let them see that?," Fleetway asked, a challenge in his voice.

Scourge bared his fangs, the seme had pushed his buttons with ease. "Feed me, now! I can't move!," he hissed. The other was only too happy to comply.

* * *

After their meals, the ukes fell quickly back to sleep, every one of them still exhausted and in need of rest. The semes brought the dishes back to the tray, so they wouldn't be in the way. They ignored the food for them still, not in the mood for it.

The tray was soon moved up and, after a good hour, returned with something less trustworthy, than food: medicine. On the metal plate were three small paper bags, cups with water, bowls with more water and clean towels.

Shadow, by now some kind of leader for the other two semes, went to the tray and examined the paper bags. In all three of them were small, light pink pills. Shadow read the small writing on the paper bag, it said, that the pills were against fever and pain. In Sonic's bag was one more, he assumed, that they had ways to keep track of their vitals and thought he needed it. Still guessing, that they wanted to increase the uke's health, he decided to trust the pills, for now. He sniffed the water in the cup and the bowl, but found nothing suspicious and also the towels smelled like soap only. Between the stuff for Scourge was also a small bottle with a liquid, that was, according to the label, an antiseptic, small cotton balls to apply it and bandages.

He looked at the impatiently waiting semes and nodded shortly, telling them, that the items were safe to use. He took those for Sonic and brought them over to the slumbering uke.

Just in time, too, because the blue hedgehog started to get restless. He moved weakly and whimpered. Suddenly, Shadow noticed movement under his blanket. He flipped it back and his eyes widened in shock: Sonic was clawing his own body in a feverish manner, staining the blankets, his fur and the mattress with blood! Immediately, Shadow tried to stop him, but the uke was surprisingly strong and the seme couldn't wake him up with words or shaking.

Now, he could only think about one way to wake him up. "Forgive me, Sonic." He lifted the smaller male up, cradled his burning body and bit in his neck, trying not to make the wound as deep, as the last. Sonic flinched, thanks to the pain, but he stopped hurting himself and, after Shadow had pulled him away to look at his face, he blinked his eyes open. He looked at the dark seme with tired, unfocused eyes.

Shadow could feel, that he had had a nightmare, something, that hurt his entire being to the point of trying to kill himself, which was the reason, why he clawed his body like that. All this could Shadow read in the lifeless eyes of his beloved uke. He didn't care for the reason _why_ he could do this, Sonic needed him.

"Sonic?" The lack of... everything besides breathing of the blue uke unsettled Shadow. Was this a normal sickness!? Hard to believe... "Sonic?," he tried again.

Blink. His only response. A movement of the blue eyelids. Nothing more.

"Come on, Sonic, talk with me!," Shadow urged, while checking his new wound. It didn't bleed anymore, at least this wasn't something to be concerned of. Sonic kept being quiet. His body felt like it was burning, the fever was too high for a living creature to stand it for very long. Maybe he wasn't able to think straight. Shadow frowned, looking at him with pity. Poor thing.

He took the pills and gently put them in the uke's mouth he had opened beforehand and then gave him water. Being thirsty thanks to the fever, Sonic drank the water without noticing, that he also swallowed the medicine. Shadow then hugged the hedgehog once more and started to rock him carefully, until he fell asleep again, figuring, that rest was, what Sonic needed the most now.

The uke was just out, when Shadow heard someone coming closer. He looked up and saw Fleetway in front of him. "Here. Looks, like he needs it.," he said and held out the remains of the antiseptic and the bandages he used to treat Scourge's wounds. Shadow hesitated, but then took it. "Thank you." Fleetway just nodded and went back to his sleeping green uke.

Shadow treated Sonic's wounds, made a bed on the next mattress with clean blankets, so he wouldn't lie in his own blood, and placed him on it. He soaked one of the towels with the cold water and placed it on Sonic's head. He hoped dearly, that the medicine worked.

* * *

Silver was, as expected, not keen on taking the pills. Mephiles sighed. "Silver, what can I do for you to take those? They are good for you, believe it or not." Silver shook his head. "No." "Silvy, you know I would never give you something bad." The smaller male looked at him. "You and the other semes only do that because of the mean man.," he muttered under his breath.

Mephiles swallowed. He knew, that Silver could read minds, but he had hoped, that he was too tired and weak to do that any time soon. Well, so much for hope.

"Listen, Silver, he didn't leave us a choice. But I will only play along for the time being, I would never harm you in any way, even if he would openly order me to. I love you Silver, I really do. And I will protect you, for as long as I can."

Silver looked at him. "Do you mean _love_ , like when Blaze says, that she loves me?," the naive hedgehog asked.

Mephiles smiled. His lack of wisdom was simply adorable. "No, Silver. I meant a kind of love, that's a million times better, stronger and purer, than the one of your sister.," he explained. "Oh." Silver turned beet red, although, judging from how he touched his hot cheeks in wonder, he still didn't understand the feeling too well. "Mephy? I...I love you, too?" He wasn't even sure, if he answered correctly. Mephiles petted his head. "I know, Silvy. Now, will you please take your medicine?" "Okay, Mephy."

* * *

Fleetway had different problems. Scourge's last nap had healed him enough to move without pain and after his wounds had been treated and dressed, he was now determined to flee – even if he couldn't stand up on his own because of how weak he still was. He didn't think about taking the medicine and didn't let Fleetway even talk about it.

"Scourge, relax. Please, you're in no condition to move!," Fleetway said, suppressing the millionth sigh. This uke really was a handful! But...he somehow liked this about Scourge. "Says who?," the green one hissed, but lost his balance when he had tried to sit up again and he fell back on the mattress. "Help me already!," he ordered.

"No." With as much force, as he dared, Fleetway tucked the other in. "Scourge, you are sick. We are locked in and I looked everywhere for a way out. We are stuck, at least for now.," he explained, lying about the 'looking everywhere'-part. Thankfully, Scourge had slept away a lot of time lately, so he would believe it.

The uke crossed his arms and frowned, while looking at his seme. "What are you not telling me?," he growled. Oh, dear.

"What do you mean?" Fleetway tried to lie, but Scourge didn't buy it. "You want to tell me, that you simply sit here with me, without trying to break the glass or digging a tunnel? I know you, Fleet. You wouldn't just stay with me on your own accord. Tell me, now!," he ordered.

Fleetway sighed. There was no use in lying – Scourge was too clever and he wouldn't stop prying. It was better to tell him, before he overexerted himself with trying to interrogate him. "Fine.," the seme said. And he told him everything, although he knew, that this would only encourage Scourge's attempts to flee.

"So...they force you to take care of me? And this idiot thinks you are my seme?," Scourge asked, once he had finished. To Fleetway's surprise, Scourge began to laugh hoarsely, until he coughed to the point he took the water, in that Fleetway had secretly dissolved the pills, and drank it in one gulp to help his sore throat. "Yeah, right. Fine then, let's stay, until I'm better. It's not like they can get me to mate with someone like you.," he chuckled, once he was done with the water, and put the cup back. Then he lay down again, finally feeling the exhaustion from his unsuccessful tries to stand up.

It became silent between them. Fleetway couldn't help himself – Scourge's words...they were...strange for him. Usually, he would shrug his taunts off, as if it was nothing, but this time... Was this place getting to him? Was he starting to...like Scourge? Like Shadow and Mephiles did with the other ukes? He admitted it, he was a little jealous, seeing how natural it seemed to be for the two ukes to be close to the semes, even to sit on their laps... But...did he want this with Scourge, too? Hard to say...maybe it was really just this place and he was overthinking things. It wasn't like he suddenly felt more for his best friend and partner in crime...right?

Scourge started to feel uncomfortable, when he noticed Fleetway's staring. It wasn't like those swirls were scary, he knew his eyes too good. He and Fleetway, they were the leaders of their gang. Even Shadow had a hard time against them both. They had spent endless nights together, around a campfire, drinking, celebrating...but he never thought for even a minute, that he could be a possible mate... At least, before he had come here.

When they had met on paradise, it had been such a relief, that he had been there, fighting the sex crazed semes off for him, when he couldn't, and yes, he had missed him, when he hadn't been send on paradise anymore.

Still, that this was now planned...EXPECTED from these humans, that he and Fleetway...NO. Definitely no. He wouldn't let them have their will.

"Hey, can you bring this stuff you used for my wounds to Shadow? His uke looks, like he needs it.," he said, to get Fleetway away for a while.

Fleetway jerked out of his own thoughts, looked over to Shadow and nodded without a word. He stood up and brought the material over to the dark seme. Scourge, meanwhile, quickly turned his back to the other and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He didn't want to face Fleetway just now.

Somehow, his last statement earlier had hurt them both quite a bit, for a reason they couldn't name.

* * *

And another chapter done! Hope you like it. I don't know when I will upload the next one, just wait for it. I'm still busy with exams, but nearly done. Then I'll have more time.


	11. The experiment and its consequences

Sorry for the long wait, I wasn't feeling too well lately and didn't want to try and edit the latest chapter with my condition - I don't want to give you crap, after all. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

 **11: The experiment and its consequences**

Three days passed and the ukes slowly recovered. Kylie was relieved to see that. Silver and Scourge were already feeling better to the point they could stand up and walk a little, although still not much, always watched carefully by their semes.

Sonic, however, was only regenerating very slowly. His fever was a little less high each day, but he still spent most of the time sleeping and wouldn't Shadow wake him up and encourage him to eat, he would have starved himself once more.

The other two ukes worried about his condition as much as Shadow and were often in his range, simply offering comfort.

Shadow had no problem with Silver coming closer, he always just sat next to Sonic, held his hand a little or talked to him, when he seemed to have a nightmare. He even talked with Shadow a bit, but it obviously was awkward for him, because the dark hedgehog looked like his own seme.

While Silver was gladly accepted, Scourge had to endure Shadow's piercing glare, whenever he came closer. He simply ignored it and sat next to Sonic without doing anything, besides looking over to the sleeping uke every now and then. He only talked, when Silver asked him something, but he wasn't that talkative, so they spent most of the time in silence. This went on for three whole days.

On the fourth day, Sonic woke up for real for the first time in days. He stretched and looked tiredly around, still not fully awake, but much better in general.

Whatever this dark form had been, it had weakened his body like nothing before. And he had only been in this form for a few minutes! How long would it take him to recover, if Perringten forced him to stay in this form longer? The thought alone scared Kylie.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, when she got a call on the telephone in her room. She picked it up. "Hello?," she said.

"Dr. Ellen, I just saw, that number 299 is feeling better.," she heard Perringten say. Of course, he would watch his most priced possession, like she did, that's why she answered, "Yes, sir.".

"Good. I'll prepare everything for an experiment this afternoon." "But sir, the ukes-," Kylie started. "Oh, I know, they won't be harmed. Just make sure they all eat and have as much energy as possible for later.," Perringten interrupted. "Yes, sir.," Kylie sighed, though she didn't let Perringten hear it. "Good. They'll be gathered at 5 pm. Have a nice day." The call ended.

Kylie just stood there for a minute. She knew, what this experiment would contain, the ukes were now healthy and strong enough for mating – at least for the man's standards. She herself would have waited some more. She couldn't do much to help her little friends, but there was something she could do. Her hand in the pocket of her lab coat grabbed the small bottle she had in there a little tighter.

* * *

Something was off, Shadow didn't need to be a genius to notice that. When their food came – the second portion for today, he presumed, as it was hard to tell, how much time passed, but there was always a longer pause between _dinner_ and _breakfast,_ than between those two and _lunch_ – he had found another note, the only other, since the threat with the remote.

On the piece of paper were only four words: "Eat. All of you." Until now, the semes hadn't eaten anything, why should they now? They planned something, but...he had to obey. _They_ had to obey. To protect the ukes.

He let the paper disappear like the one before, took Sonic's plate with a fresh soup and his with meat – again – and brought both to the dozing hedgehog.

Mephiles and Fleetway watched him curiously. Shadow just looked at them. "Eat.," was all his glare said and the semes were quick to obey.

Sonic watched confused, how Shadow ate his meal. It was quite obvious, that he wasn't keen on eating at all. "Shadow? What's wrong?," he asked. "Hm? Nothing, why do you ask?," Shadow answered. "Well, you never ate before..." "Oh, that. Well, it's not like I need to shave off some weight and...the hunger just got to me." "You don't seem to like the food." "Yeah, those humans aren't chefs. It's half raw." This wasn't a lie, but semes weren't prone to illnesses like for example food poisoning, – he had figured that much, as the food he had gotten until now, in his cell, had most of the time been completely raw and he had been sure, that they wouldn't do that, if they could get sick from it – so he ate it.

"Really? Let me try." Sonic wanted to grab a piece of meat from Shadow's plate, but Shadow held it away from him. "No, Sonic! You just recovered from a high fever, I don't want to risk you getting ill again. I don't want you to suffer.," he added, when Sonic started pouting. This calmed the uke enough for him to not try again or argue, but only to eat his soup, while Shadow forced the meat down.

He remembered too late, that he had forgotten to check Sonic's food for anything suspicious in it. Now, his plate was empty. He hoped, that he wouldn't regret this.

* * *

Mephiles did notice, that he was watched by an overly curious uke, but he didn't mind. Getting the half raw meat down was a greater challenge, than ignoring Silver for a while.

"Doesn't it taste good?," Silver finally asked, he had of course noticed his struggle, just like Sonic had with Shadow. "I'm...er...just not used to this.," Mephiles replied reluctantly. "Meat?," Silver asked, confused. "...no. Rather...eating at all..." Thankfully, Silver wasn't as shocked, as he had feared.

"Are you homeless, too?," the younger male asked curiously, not aware of the fact, that this question was quite impolite. It was the only explanation the young hedgehog could imagine as a reason for someone to not be used to eating.

"No. I...am an immortal creature. I can't die.," Mephiles added in his whispered answer for the less educated hedgehog to understand him. "I'm a shapeshifter, who is able to change his forms. I... committed some crimes in the past and was locked away because of them. Thousands of years later, Shadow over there freed me by accident." He nodded to the dark hedgehog. "I took over his form to have a body, but I have not his abilities, only my own."

"But...now you're nice, right?" Silver hadn't understand all of his words, but enough. He still wasn't afraid of Mephiles, he trusted his seme with all his heart. "Yes, Silver. I am.," Mephiles smiled and pet his head.

* * *

Scourge watched disgusted, how Fleetway devoured his meal, as if it was the most delicious thing in the world.

In his mind, the yellow hedgehog asked himself, why he had denied all this delicious meat in the last days!? Half raw it was simply heavenly!

"You ARE aware of the fact, that this is halfway raw, right?," Scourge asked, his bowl in his lap, but right now, he had no intention to eat, as long as he saw this disgusting show.

"Yum, I know! Remind me to eat my meals from now on!," the other hedgehog said with his mouth full.

"First: don't speak with your mouth full. Second: I won't do that. Your table manners are the worst I've ever seen! Aren't you going to get sick from that?," Scourge growled. "Nope, I won't. My stomach's immune to everything!"

"Except my foot, if you keep talking with your mouth full.," Scourge hissed and Fleetway swallowed...the meat. "Sorry, Scourge." "Just why didn't you eat sooner, when you're so keen on this stuff?," Scourge asked irritated. "Well, I didn't know it was this delicious. And we...somehow all did, what Shadow did." "Shadow?"

Scourge looked over to the dark agent, who tried, if he interpreted his behavior right, to get the unwilling Sonic to rest some more. "Why are _you_ of all people listening to Shadow?," he asked.

Normally, Fleetway didn't listen to anyone, not even their gang. Even to Scourge he rarely listened, although they were both the leaders of their gang. In the last few days, he had been more attentive towards the green uke, than ever.

"Er...I don't know. He...just seemed to know what to do. Once I'm out of here, he can kiss my ass for all I care.," Fleetway shrugged. He seemed the kind of guy, that lived after the motto, 'I follow him, as long as it's useful for me'.

"Whatever." Scourge shrugged, ate the soup, that had grown cold, and then gave Fleetway the bowl to bring it back.

* * *

A few hours passed. While Sonic had finally given in to Shadow's wish and was now sleeping peacefully, watched by the seme, Silver and Mephiles chatted about everything, that came to their minds and Scourge and Fleetway just sat with a little – not much – distance between them at the wall and looked at their mirror images on the other side of the room without saying a word.

After those few hours, one of the glass walls suddenly moved up and the door opened loudly, making the hedgehogs flinch and Sonic jump awake.

"Out! All of you!," a male voice shouted, although there wasn't anyone visible, the man had to stand around the corner.

"Hm? What?," Sonic asked, rubbing his eyes. He was still tired and didn't know, what was going on. "Come, Sonic." Shadow helped Sonic to stand up, but the blue uke struggled to keep standing, as he hadn't used his legs in a while. To not waste time and risk punishment, Shadow lifted him up on his arms. Sonic blushed, even though he wasn't in Shadow's arms for the first time.

The other hedgehogs stood up as well, Silver clinging to Mephiles in fear, while Scourge and Fleetway didn't show any kind of emotion.

They left the cell, being greeted with three humans with guns – and copies of the remote, that controlled the collars, at their belts. Shadow noticed it right away. A short side glance told him, that the other two semes had noticed it, too.

"Move!," was the next order and reluctantly, the males started to walk down the hallway, having the humans in their backs all the time, which wasn't calming at all. They were forced through several hallways, always getting commands like "left!" or "right!", that they obeyed.

Finally, they came to a dead end with three simple metal doors, one on the left, one in the middle and one on the right. "125, 299, to the right, 101, 102, to the left, 245, 143, the middle.," one of the men ordered.

Shadow felt, how Sonic tensed and got stressed. He would be separated from the other two ukes!

The semes with their ukes went to stand in front of the doors they had been assigned to, one of the guards behind them. At once, the doors slid open, they got a push in the back and, after they had stumbled in, the doors closed again and locked audibly.

Shadow managed to catch his balance just in time before he fell, with Sonic still in his arms. "Are you okay?," Sonic asked. "Yeah, I was just a little bit surprised. Are you hurt?," he asked back. Sonic shook his head and Shadow carefully let him down.

Together, they looked around. It was a simple room with one window, that seemed nothing but a rectangular hole with a – most likely unbreakable – glass wall in front of it on both sides and a king-sized bed in the middle of the room.

On their right was another door. Still on guard, Shadow walked over to the door and opened it slowly. It was a bathroom, it had a toilet, a shower and a giant bathtub, that was embedded in the floor itself and deep enough to reach his shoulders, would he stand in the middle of it. Even a sink, towels and soap were there.

"Strange. Why are they suddenly so nice?," Sonic wondered out loud. "They aren't. They just don't want us to get sick through bad hygiene.," Shadow growled. Those humans had most likely built these rooms, that had the typical scent of a new building, shortly after they had been caged in this fluffy nightmare of a cell. He could imagine, that they would clean the cell right now.

"They...put this bed here so...we mate, right?" Sonic's hollow voice let Shadow snap out of his thoughts. He turned around to Sonic, who leaned against the wall next to him, arms and legs crossed and watching the bed, as if it was a poisonous snake. He looked composed, but the silent scraping of his raised quills against the wall with every breath he took betrayed his fear.

"Sonic, relax. It's not like they can force us..." "You mean, like he didn't force you to stay and obey?," Sonic said dryly, not looking at him. Shadow couldn't stop himself and flinched. "What? Did you think, I wouldn't notice how _docile_ you suddenly were? How obedient? Did you think, I forgot the pain Scourge was suddenly in? Or didn't see the remote the humans had and that you three semes looked at? I'm not dumb, Shadow.," Sonic growled, who felt out of nowhere a headache forming.

Shadow looked down. "I'm sorry. Sonic, I don't think, that you're dumb. I just wanted to protect you.," he apologized.

"In case you forgot: I'm a HERO! I can protect myself." The pounding in his head started to get to him and made him quite aggressive. He turned away from Shadow and leaned his throbbing temple against the cool wall to ease the pain. It helped... a little. For about two seconds. "I hate this. Why am I so weak? Since this whole uke-mess started, I have the feeling, that I really become the uke Eggman wanted to see in me.," he growled, trying to ignore the hammer, that Amy swung on his poor brain.

"Sonic, you aren't weak. You said it yourself, you are a hero. I don't know, why you are having so much trouble here on this Island, but I'm sure, it has nothing to do with you being an uke." Shadow laid a hand on his shoulder, careful not to cut himself at the other's still raised quills. Sonic really was struggling, he couldn't deny it. He seemed to get more and more insecure the longer he was here and also he seemed weaker, since their first encounter. Were it just the consequences of the rape, the miscarriage and being close to death? Was it this _something_ , Sonic said they did to him? Or was it another reason? This whole Island and its inhabitants (minus him, the ukes and Kylie), maybe? He shook his head. He had to comfort Sonic now!

"I know, that you can take care of yourself, but..." He paused for a moment to make sure he would choose the right words to not upset his little uke more. Sonic's ears moved in his direction, he was curious to hear, what he wanted to say. "Please, allow me to be the one, who takes care of you, when you are in need of help. This isn't a shame for you as a hero, do you understand this? Everybody needs someone to turn to and I would be honored to be this someone for you."

Sonic blushed and for a little moment, his headache was forgotten. He turned around and hugged Shadow tightly. "I'm sorry for being so mean!," he cried. "Why are you saying this? You were absolutely right to scold me. I promise, I'll be always honest to you from now on and keep nothing from you.," Shadow mumbled in the smaller one's ear and pet his quills gently, that pressed down to not hurt him in any way.

"Then why aren't you telling him, that he's immortal?," a little voice in his head asked, that sounded quite like Kylie. "Because it isn't safe to say this here.," he impatiently shushed the voice in his head and continued to calm Sonic down.

He noticed, that the hedgehog was trembling and he sensed some strange vibes, that came from him. "Sonic? Is everything alright?," he asked. His question was answered, somehow, when Sonic suddenly ended the hug, stormed in the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Just a second later, he heard violent retching.

Shadow's face scrunched up in disgust, but he forced himself to go in the bathroom and look after Sonic. The hedgehog leaned against the toilet seat, the room smelt like fresh vomit. "S-Sorry...," Sonic mumbled weakly and looked at him with dull, teary eyes. "I-I guess, I... ruined a moment, huh?" Shadow chuckled a little. "Not your fault. Are you emptied out?" Sonic just turned towards the toilet and retched again, ridding his stomach painfully from all remains of his previous meals.

"I hope it was nothing in his food today.," Shadow thought. He would never forgive himself, if Sonic suffered because he hadn't paid attention.

As in the room was nothing he could use as a glass to fill it with water, he caught some tap water in his cupped – and washed – hands and brought the fluid over to Sonic, so he could drink a little and maybe calm his upset stomach.

Sonic blushed in embarrassment upon drinking out of the hands of another, but he would have been too weak to even hold a glass anyway, he guessed. A little reluctantly and clumsily, he drank the water, spilling a little over himself. He thanked Shadow after finishing.

"Can we...well...stay here a little? I think, I'm not...finished...," Sonic sighed and went back to retching and even though it felt, like he would need a while to stop vomiting, he was thankful for Shadow's company, that he kept him without a question.

* * *

"What should we do here? Sleep?" Silver looked at the piece of furniture in the middle of the room with his head cocked to the side like a confused puppy, while Mephiles checked the location for anything suspicious.

Luckily, he found nothing, neither cameras nor a dangerous...whatever. It was quite obvious, what the humans wanted them to do, but they had given them the utmost privacy... They hadn't even got some kind of order, concerning what they had to do here...

Mephiles narrowed his eyes in thought. What was the meaning of all this? After all of their efforts, they just played 'wait and see' now? Hard to believe... But no matter how hard he tried, he didn't find anything, that could harm them in this room...

Soft laughter let him turn around. Silver bounced on the bed, as if it was a trampoline. "I didn't know, that beds are this bouncy!," the young uke giggled. Mephiles chuckled, despite the strange situation they were in. "Be careful, don't hurt yourself,!" he warned, smiling.

Silver stopped bouncing after a minute and crossed his legs, sitting in the middle of the bed. "They want us to do, what the others always do on paradise, right?," he asked solemnly, looking down on his legs.

Though he couldn't name it, he knew, what the semes and ukes did. It was, as if he had lost his virginity already, at least mentally. "I think yes, but...that doesn't mean we have to.," Mephiles replied.

"I don't want to, it looks so painful. They all cry all the time.," the uke mused. As trusting as he was, he most likely had seen the ukes, that had been caged with him, as friends. Seeing his 'friends' getting raped, must've shocked the poor thing remarkably. For now, Mephiles had no intention to change his attitude towards sex, in case those humans planned something. He needed his guard here.

"Do you think we have to stay here for long? Or forever? I miss Sonic and Scourge.," Silver sighed sadly.

Mephiles couldn't say, that he missed the other two semes, but he already figured, that the ukes had created deep bonds during the short time they had been together. "I'm sure, it isn't for long.," he said and sat next to Silver on the bed, suddenly feeling tired. Silver made himself comfortable next to him. He snuggled to Mephiles and yawned. For some reason, the two hedgehogs started to feel sleepy.

Soon, Silver was fast asleep with Mephiles following a few minutes after, both snuggled close to each other.

* * *

"Man, those humans really know, how to be discrete. They couldn't have made it anymore obvious, if they had placed a sign here, where they wrote on, 'Please fuck!'. Seriously, as if we would do that." Scourge rolled his eyes and gave the bed a small kick, careful not to hurt his bare toes.

"Well, they didn't tell us to mate at least. So...we just... waste some time?," Fleetway shrugged, looking out the window, through that he saw only a little beach and the ocean, while Scourge inspected the bathroom, whose door was next to the window. "Do what you want, I'll take a shower." With that, Scourge went in the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

After his shower, he came out of the bathroom. Fleetway sat on the bed with his back to him. His lack of movement wondered him a little, but he just ignored it and finished drying himself, leaving him with slightly wet fur. "Now, what should we do?," he asked, throwing the towel carelessly on the floor. Fleetway didn't answer. "Wow, that bored?" Scourge replied and got his quills back in order with his claws.

"I..." "Hm?" Scourge looked at the seme, not noticing the small tremors, that went through his form. "Did you say something?" "I...can't..." "Can't what?" Scourge frowned. What was wrong with him?

Suddenly, the seme turned around and Scourge gasped: Fleetway's eyes were blood red! The swirls were gone, there was only red! "I CAN'T RESIST ANYMORE!," the golden male shouted and lunged at the stunned uke, throwing them to the floor.

Scourge landed on his back hard, all air got pressed out of his lungs. "Argh! Are you-?" Lips, that were suddenly on his, cut off his words.

The green one's eyes shot open. He angled his leg and kicked the seme off him. He sat up, catching his breath and trying to get his heart rate under control. He wiped his mouth to get the feeling of the other's lips off his.

Scourge looked at Fleetway, who lay halfway on the bed. "Have you lost your mind!? What did you think you were doing?," he panted. At once, the seme sat up, his eyes nearly glowing. "You are mine!," he hissed, standing up and approaching the green male, who stood up, trying to ready for a fight, but somehow, his body refused to cooperate.

"What's wrong with you?!" Scourge backed away involuntarily. This all was really strange. The male didn't answer, he only growled. Scourge dashed to the side and fled in the bathroom, locking the door and barricading it – as there wasn't any movable furniture – with his body.

He nearly got thrown to the floor, when Fleetway rammed the door once, but caught himself and continued to block the door.

Just how did this happen!? He acted like the semes on paradise, although he was able to talk...a little, at least. Did they drug him, while he had taken a shower? It couldn't be the normal drugs in his collar, it wouldn't have affected him, right? Then: HOW!? It had been FIVE minutes in the damn shower! And why didn't this idiot fight back!?

The door got ripped out from its hinges and he got buried under it. "Oof!" Once again, his lungs lost their air, but he forced himself out from under the heavy door, his body badly bruised by the two falls.

When he looked up, Fleetway stood in the door frame. To the uke's great horror, he could see the seme's big cock out of its sheath. He swallowed, not only in fear, as it was definitely bigger, than he had expected – and bigger, than the others he already had, since he was here – but also in...anticipation? Just what was wrong with him!? With them both!?

Fleetway approached him. "F-Fleet, stop." His voice was weak and trembled, as if he was about to cry. Did he turn into a girl, or something?

The seme grabbed the kneeling uke and forced him to stand up. Scourge cried out, the harsh movement and the grip on his arm hurt him, but he suddenly lacked all energy to struggle.

Fleetway pulled him at his arm over to the bed and threw him on it. The green uke crawled back, trying to escape, but the seme was quick to grab his ankle and pull him closer again. At once, the seme was on him, with his knees next to his hips. He stared lustfully down on his trembling, panicky prey.

"P-please...d-don't..." Scourge's voice was nothing but a whimper right now. He tried to push the other off, but he was too weak all of a sudden and when Fleetway pinned his arms above his head with one hand, while growling rather annoyed and positioning himself, he was even more helpless.

He stiffened, when he felt something at his entrance, prodding. "F-Fleet, p-please, y-you have to-"

All of his breath, all of his thoughts, vanished, when the seme he had tried to reach with words, entered him with force to the hilt.

After minutes, it seemed, Scourge took his first breath, since he had been nearly impaled by Fleetway.

It looked, like the seme had just waited for him to – somewhat – recover, as he now started to move. Scourge whimpered in pain, feeling as if his insides were ripped apart. Unlike Fleetway, he wasn't aroused, just weaker than usual, and he hadn't prepared him either. For the seme, it was sex – for him, it was rape. He tried to free himself, but when his body seemed paralyzed, he couldn't help himself anymore and started to cry.

It wasn't his first rape here, in this place, and it wasn't his first rape at all. Still, Fleetway was... had been his friend. This alone broke his heart.

Fleetway didn't seem to mind, or maybe to notice his tears, pleas and sobs at all, he just kept on moving, only focused on his own release.

His movements got soon faster, he was close. "N-not...i-inside...," Scourge begged, although he knew it was useless. Fleetway didn't care about what he said. Nobody did.

He bit his lip hard, when a last hard thrust hurt his already bruised body and the horribly familiar warmth started to fill him up. He felt simply dirty now and more tears streamed down his face.

Fleetway, after several minutes, finally left his body and Scourge took a few deep breaths, his tears flowing without an end.

His eyes widened, when he was turned on his belly. Oh no. "Fleet, no, you can't-" Before he could force his shaky limbs to work and try to escape, he was entered once more, painfully fast and deep. He cried out in the mattress he was pushed in, as his arms had grown too weak to carry his weight.

Suddenly, Fleetway stopped and he felt, how something heavy leaned on his back. Was the other asleep?

This little hope got crushed, when he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He cried out again, much louder this time, while the fabric of the mattress, his face and his fur got stained with his own blood, flooding out of his wound.

The movement in his lower region began again with Fleetway having still his neck between his jaws, as if he had to be restrained. As if he still had any energy or strength left to fight. As if he hadn't given up already and resigned in his fate.

* * *

When Sonic woke up, he lay on something very soft. He yawned and opened his eyes. He was in an empty room in a big bed and he needed a few moments to remember, why he was here.

When he did, he shot up, but regretted it immediately, as his whole body hurt, as if it was a single cramp. He fell back in the pillows and whimpered in pain.

His ears jerked upon hearing a noise and he looked up. Shadow just left the bathroom, a scent from soap following him. He saw Sonic looking at him and smiled. "How are you feeling?" "Everything hurts... What am I doing here?," he asked, a little afraid, that Shadow had actually done to him, what the humans expected from them.

"You fell asleep after you were done vomiting. I thought it would do you some good to lie down for a bit. But when I carried you to the bed, I felt, that your muscles were tense to the point, where you would have cramps. As I'm not good in giving massages, I thought I'll prepare a hot bath for you to relax your muscles a little."

Sonic blushed. Shadow was so caring! How could he ever doubt him? "Your bath just got ready, if you would like to have it.," Shadow said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "That would be nice.," Sonic smiled. Carefully, Shadow picked the hurting uke up and went in the bathroom.

There, however, Sonic tensed, when he saw how big and deep the 'tub' actually was. A fact, that not even the foam on the surface could hide. He clung to Shadow's neck, when he approached the pool, making the seme stop. "Sonic? What's wrong?," Shadow asked confused. "N-nothing..." Shadow looked between the uke and the tub his eyes were trained on. "Sonic...are you...afraid of water?," he asked slowly.

Sonic blinked, then he laughed, too loud, to be convincing. "Me? Afraid? Of water? Please! I drink water, I wash myself with water, I cook with water, I walk through rain! So nope, I'm not afraid of water, that would be ridiculous! Butthefearofdrowningisabsolutelyreasonable.," he added, nearly too quick and quiet for Shadow's hearing.

He smiled. "You won't drown, I'll be with you the whole time.," he reassured. Sonic nodded, but not really convinced. He still clung to Shadow, when he entered the water and even stronger, when he himself touched the water.

Luckily, a small step in the wall of the tub allowed a slow entry, where Shadow could simply stop, once the water was up to his hip, and Sonic could feel the water with his bare toes. As the water was really hot to help his muscles, he needed a minute to get used to it, so Shadow – who was artificially immune to temperatures below 100° and over -100° – had to stand in the water for a while, before he could move on.

Little by little, Sonic got used to being in the water and to the warmth as well and, as hoped, his muscles started to relax and the cramps loosened. Sonic sighed in relief and closed his eyes, not caring anymore about the water, that surrounded him.

In the walls of the tub were seats, on that Shadow could sit. Even with Sonic on his lap, their heads were easily above the water. Sonic even shifted a little, so he was a bit deeper and his shoulders and neck were covered again with the warm water. "Thanks, Shadow, for the bath. It feels great.," he purred. "I'm glad I could help. Are your cramps gone?" "Almost." "Good."

They spent some more minutes in comfortable silence, just enjoying the moment and each other's company.

When the water started to get cold, they got out, Sonic even managed to climb the steps on his own. They dried their furs with the towels, not caring about the fact, that they needed some more, as they ripped the first ones with their quills. As it was easier, when someone else did this, they dried each other's head- and back quills. For both hedgehogs it was a new experience, as they never had someone do this before.

They were just done, when they heard a noise out of the other room. The pair looked at each other and then went into it, Shadow walked first to protect Sonic, if necessary, but it had been only the other door, that had opened.

"Out!," a voice shouted. With Sonic clinging to him for support, as he was still a little insecure on his legs, Shadow came out.

The other two doors were still closed, which unsettled Sonic once more, but they were forced back to where they had come from and couldn't wait for the others to come out.

As expected, the cell smelled clean and all blankets and pillows, even the mattresses, had either been washed, or had gotten replaced.

Sonic didn't like being in this cell, but he liked it even less, when he was here without the other two ukes. He tapped with a finger on his crossed arms, trying to get rid of this nervous energy in him.

To his great relief, the cell door opened once more after a good minute and Silver and Mephiles came in. Both were yawning and stretching, as if they had had a long nap.

"Silver!" Sonic quickly ran over to the smaller uke, hugging the surprised male in pure relief, before letting him go again.

Mephiles raised a brow at that, but then shrugged it off, too tired to care about this closeness he didn't approve of now.

"Is everything alright with you?," the blue uke asked. "Yeah." Silver yawned once more and rubbed his eyes. "Mephy and I just slept together."

Sonic's eyes widened and his blood ran cold. Silver was just a child! How could he!? "W-wha-!? B-but...," was everything he got out of his mouth, that refused to close.

"Yeah, we were so tired suddenly, don't know why. The mean humans have woken us up.," Silver said, crossing his arms and pouting a little.

Sonic breathed in relief. He had thought the worst, but Silver just didn't know how to express the matter in a better way. "Well, have you had nice dreams?," he asked, recovering from his shock. "I don't know...I only remember that Mephy's chest fur is SOOO fluffy.," the younger teen giggled.

Sonic chuckled. Well, he knew, what he meant, Shadow had one, too, after all. "I see...," he smiled.

Just then, the door opened once more and screams filled the cell. "Let me go, you assholes, let me go!"

Startled, everyone watched how Scourge was pushed in the cell. He lost his footing after a step in the room and collapsed on the softened floor, curling himself up a little.

"Scourge!" Silver and Sonic hurried to his side. They gasped upon his sight: he was bruised all over, had a bleeding wound on his neck and something white, that mixed with red, trickled down from between his legs. His belly was protruding a little, he was crying and tried still to curl up in a ball, trying to hold in his sobs.

"S-Scourge, w-what happened?," Sonic asked, feeling the urge to vomit for completely different reasons now.

The green hedgehog jerked, it seemed, as if he had forgotten for a little while, that he wasn't alone. Or maybe he had hoped, that he would be in another cell, all to himself. Shakily, he tried to stand up, but he only managed to lift himself on his knees, before his remaining strength was used up. "N-nothing.," he finally whispered with a raspy voice.

"This isn't _nothing_. Come on, tell me! Who did this?," Sonic urged, he was worried beyond belief about the green hedgehog.

Scourge balled his fists. He raised his head quickly and glared at the blue one. "Just what do you _think_!?," he seethed, his hurting, broken body and mind and Sonic's obvious stupidity driving him mad. "Why did they put us together with a seme, huh!? Why did they separate us!? They knew that one uke- !" A coughing fit, caused by his sore throat, interrupted him. Silver stroke his back gently to help him, trying not to hurt him.

Sonic felt, how his head started to hurt, while he tried to understand, what he meant. It wasn't like he didn't get it – he just couldn't believe, that he let this happen! Didn't he swear himself to protect them? Rage, not only on himself, started to burn in him.

The cell door opened again and a groaning Fleetway came in, rubbing his head, as if he had a hangover. His headache was forgotten, however, when he suddenly got thrown to the floor and then felt a foot stepping on his throat, before he had gathered his bearings.

He opened his eyes, expecting to see Shadow, but was surprised to see the agent's blue uke instead, glaring down on him, as if he was the most despicable being in the whole universe.

"You freaking bastard!," he hissed, his fur, that stood straight, turned darker. "What have you done to Scourge!?"

Scourge jumped upon hearing that and he looked up to watch the scene between Sonic and Fleetway. It was oddly satisfying to see the seme like that.

"What do you-" Fleetway got cut off, together with his air passage, when Sonic shifted a little more weight on the foot on his throat, his fur seemed a tad darker again.

"Don't you dare lying to me! You raped Scourge!," Sonic growled. Fleetway blinked. "H-huh-?," he croaked, a little breathless by now. "You raped Scourge, you disgusting little vermin!" He turned around to Scourge, who flinched a little, when he met Sonic's icy glare, although his rage wasn't directed to him. "How often?," the dark blue uke asked, wanting a reason more to finish him off.

Scourge swallowed, but didn't dare to lie or keep quiet. He looked down. "Four.," he mumbled. That explained his extended belly...in a cruel way.

Sonic bared his fangs, whipped around to Fleetway and applied even more pressure on his throat. "You had your way with him FOUR times!?," he shouted, his voice booming in the nearly empty room, making Silver and Scourge flinch a little. By now, Fleetway began to turn blue from the lack of air.

Shadow felt, how he started to sweat. This was definitely NOT Sonic. He remembered, how he had told him days ago, that he would feel like a monster. Back then, he had thought, that it had been paranoia or the fever – NOW he believed it. He had to stop him, before he did something he would regret!

"Sonic..." He carefully approached the uke, hoping, that he was coherent enough to recognize him still. Sonic turned around to him, glaring angrily. "What?," he asked. _Don't waste my time, I'm busy!_ , his glare said.

Shadow cleared his throat nervously. "Er...how about me and Mephiles handle Fleetway and you take care of Scourge?," he suggested, trying to not sound scared, even though Sonic's glare wasn't really calming.

Upon mentioning Scourge, the uke looked over to the green hedgehog, who still knelt in the same place, shivering and hugging himself with Silver kneeling helplessly next to him. The young hedgehog was clearly not the right person to help him, at least not alone.

Sonic faced Shadow again. "Fine." He took his foot off from Fleetway, who gasped for precious air. "Give him hell.," he hissed towards Shadow and went to Scourge. "Sure, Sonic!," Shadow replied with a shaking voice and a small smile.

Just like that, the uke's fur turned back to its normal color and his body had lost all signs of aggression, when he reached the other two. He knelt down next to Scourge. "Are you in great pain?," he asked sympathetically.

Scourge looked away. "W-why did you do that?," he whispered. "Why? He hurt you! And you're my friend, that's why I care.," Sonic added, now suppressing all aggression, even in his tone, to not scare the others.

Scourge kept looking away. "No need for that. I don't need friends. I'm fine on my own. I don't need friends, I don't-" He had to interrupt himself, as he was crying now. Sonic and Silver hugged him, mindful of his wounds.

* * *

Mephiles and Shadow dragged Fleetway in the farthest corner, creating the greatest distance possible between them and the ukes. Shadow pressed him against the glass wall in front of the second door and kept him there with one hand. "What happened?," he asked.

"What do you mean – what happened?," Fleetway growled, not happy about getting roughed up by 'Sonadow'.

"Are you trying to tell me, that Scourge is lying about this? Your crotch is full with sperm, you pig!," Shadow hissed, keeping his voice low. "Huh?" Fleetway looked down on him and then up once more.

"Listen, I don't remember anything, okay? I remember going in this room, waiting for Scourge to come out of the shower...and then waking up with the worst headache in my life.," he defended himself nervously.

Shadow and Mephiles exchanged a glare before turning back to the third seme. "You won't go anywhere near our ukes, got it?," Shadow growled, his eyes so cold and piercing, that Fleetway swallowed and nodded.

Shadow let him go, so that he slumped down, and he and Mephiles turned away from Fleetway.

"You know, what that means, right?," the pale striped male whispered, careful not to be too loud, so the ukes wouldn't hear them. "Yeah. They somehow drugged Fleetway to rape Scourge. That means..."

Shadow paused and looked over to Sonic, who was busy comforting a weeping Scourge. "It's only a matter of time now.," Mephiles concluded, watching Silver as well.

It was only a matter of time, until they would do the same to their ukes.

* * *

Man, I torture Scourge quite a bit, huh? Anyway, the next chapter should come out in a few days. Have a nice week!


	12. Of failed plans and planned failures

I know, not the most creative title. At first, this chapter and the previous one had been one, but it got too long and I split it. That's why those two titles aren't the best, sorry ^^" !

* * *

 **12: Of failed plans and planned failures**

Kylie would have rather looked after her hedgehog friends, than sitting in this room and listen to Dr. Stance.

He was around 50 years old, had gray hair and cold blue eyes. She had never liked him for how he treated the ukes he examined after they had been on Paradise – and hearing him brag about the invention of a new drug, that could be inhaled, didn't make it better.

Especially, when she heard, that he had used the blood of 'her' hedgehogs to create this drug. To make it worse, she had to learn, that it had been let out in the rooms the hedgehogs had been brought to earlier that day and Stance seemed to have a lot of fun showing her, and Perringten, as his only audience the results.

"As you can see here, using a small dosage of 125's drug had absolutely no effect on said being, but on 299, although this wasn't an effect we wished for, of course.," Stance explained, showing them the pictures of a hidden camera in the bathroom, where Sonic was busy vomiting in the toilet with Shadow next to him, trying to help.

"I would analyze his blood to make sure, that this was the experiment's fault, though.," Stance added with a mean glare towards Kylie. It had never been a secret, that he didn't like the woman and as she had a 'better' job than him now, he showed his hatred more openly.

"I assure you, that I keep a very careful watch over the diet of the ukes and semes under my care.," Kylie replied icily.

Perringten cleared his throat to end the argument. "Continue, Dr. Stance.," he ordered. "Of course, sir. For 245 and 143, we used a mixture out of both drugs in a higher concentration than the former, but as you see, it had an unexpected effect..." He showed them the sleeping Silver and Mephiles. "Maybe a blood analysis will tell us, why they reacted like that. Now, I'm happy to tell you, that our third experiment was a full success! We used the highest concentration possible of 101's drug, any higher and he would have inhaled his own blood!"

Nearly ecstatic, Stance showed them the video of Scourge and Fleetway, from their entrance in the room to the fourth rape.

The sound was on, so Kylie could hear Scourge's cries and pleas, like she had been there. She balled her fists and bit the insides of her cheeks to suppress her tears and any kind of emotion.

"Why did 101 do it four times?," Perringten asked with mild interest, as if they would talk about why a chameleon changed its color. "I guess, it's either some kind of hyper-sex-drive as a side effect of the drug, or it felt, that it hadn't impregnated 102 until the fourth time.," Stance replied. He watched the pale Kylie with amusement. "Dr. Ellen, are you feeling alright?," he asked with fake concern.

The woman felt Perringten's eyes on her and thought quickly about an answer. "I...just tried to estimate, if I need to see number 102 today, or if it's enough to see to his injuries tomorrow.," she lied.

"And what do you suggest?," Perringten asked. "Well, I would rather see him today, I'm worried about the neck wound. In his current condition, he needs to be as healthy, as possible."

"I see. Are you then able to tell, if our experiment was really a success?" Kylie knew, what he meant. A pregnancy test.

"Today, no. But tomorrow, best...before the breakfast. I can then take blood samples from all three ukes." Kylie knew, that she couldn't stall time for her friends, as long, as Stance was there, who had about as much knowledge about hedgehogs, as her.

"In this case, I shall let someone fetch 102 for you..." "I don't think, that this is a good idea.," Kylie quickly said. "Should 102 really be pregnant, then he should avoid stress and as I am a woman, he won't see me as a threat."

Perringten raised an eye brow, obviously impressed. "Very well then. I'll see you tomorrow for the examination." And he left.

Stance seemed to follow him, but when he passed Kylie, he grabbed her arm and made her turn around, so she faced him.

"You better watch out, because I'm not keen on taking care of those whining ukes any longer! One mistake and we'll swap and you are back to be a simple, unimportant nurse for stupid animals!," he hissed, let go of her arm, that would be bruised tomorrow for sure, and marched out.

Kylie just rubbed her hurting arm and thought with pity about all the ukes, who got treated by him, instead of her.

* * *

After maybe hours of crying, Scourge had fallen asleep. Sonic and Silver had, to their seme's worry, given the green hedgehog their dinners, that had arrived shortly after their return to the cell. The ukes had figured, that he needed the food more.

Scourge hadn't tried to contradict, he had been so weak from his crying, that hadn't even during his eating ceased, and of course the rape, that he had to get fed by Sonic anyway. Hard to say, if he was even aware of the fact, that he had eaten two more portions, he had simply opened his mouth for the spoon, when Sonic had said so and swallowed the liquid. At this point, he had been pretty lifeless and not thought about anything anymore, his mind had shut down.

Shadow and Mephiles on the other hand HAD tried to protest against their ukes giving their food to an other, as the two needed it as well, especially Sonic, who had literally nothing in his stomach anymore. But they only earned glares from the two, when they had tried to argue, that had a clear message:

 _One more word and you can join Fleetway_.

The golden hedgehog had been banned in the corner farthest away from the others and got glares, or even threatening growls, whenever he shifted his weight, or did as much as breathing too loud. He stole a glance towards Scourge every now and then, but was careful not to get caught.

Now, Scourge was in a deep sleep, wrapped in several blankets and with his head on a pillow, that was on Sonic's lap, while the rest of his body was on Silver's lap that was cushioned with more pillows.

Whenever he showed the slightest sign of distress – a whimper, a shiver, a frown – Sonic or Silver calmed him down with gentle words and caresses, until he fell back in a peaceful slumber.

Their caring behavior let their two dark semes feel quite jealous, especially Shadow, who knew, what a lowlife Scourge was. He didn't deserve Sonic's care!

In the next moment, he felt pretty disgusted with himself: not even Scourge deserved to be raped.

Still, it upset him, that he got quite weird looks from Sonic and Silver, whenever he or Mephiles tried to come closer than two feet to the three ukes, although they both could imagine the reason for this.

Sonic was very protective and didn't want anyone in Scourge's range, as long as he was helpless, and young Silver copied his behavior to help him.

Independent from each other, the dark semes decided to let their ukes have their will and kept their distance, but they were still as close as possible.

They all tensed, when one glass wall, the closer one to most of the hedgehogs, was pulled up and the door opened. But three of the still awake hedgehogs relaxed, when a familiar woman came in.

"Hey.," Kylie smiled. "Kylie!," Silver cheered, though silently, to not disturb Scourge. "Hello, Silver.," she smiled and came to the ukes, while the door closed.

Mephiles and Fleetway looked over to Shadow to observe his reaction, but when they didn't see any tension in his body language anymore, they decided to trust the woman, but Mephiles was still a little weary, as Silver seemed oddly trusting, too.

Kylie reached the ukes and knelt down in front of them. "I came to take Scourge.," she explained. "To do what?," Sonic asked, his voice colder, than he had wanted it to to be.

It didn't shock the woman, though, she knew, that he was very protective. He was an Alpha after all, protecting ukes was more or less his job. "To stitch up his wound and see, if he needs something else.," she answered calmly and Sonic allowed her to take the green uke in his bundle of blankets and carry him over to the door.

She knocked two times fast after another and then added another one after a pause, obviously a sign for the guards outside, that they told her before, so the semes wouldn't try to flee. As if the collars weren't enough to let them stay put.

The door opened and she stepped out, before the door closed again and the glass wall returned to its place.

* * *

Carefully, Kylie carried the sleeping Scourge to a small ward down the hallway. It looked like a small version of her old ward and seemed free from cameras as well, but she wasn't so sure of this and rather not took any chances.

She placed Scourge on the only bed and gently unwrapped the blankets. She frowned. The blanket, that had been wrapped around him first, was sticky with halfway dried sperm, he had most likely forced the amounts out of his body.

It seemed strange to her, that he apparently knew, how to do this, but she just shrugged it off to focus on what she had to do here. She threw the dirty blanket away and prepared a syringe with a sedative, that she gave him. It was better, when he slept through the whole procedure. After she was sure, that he was out, she stitched up the wound in his neck, that reminded her a lot of Sonic's.

When this was done, she examined the wounds on his torso he did to himself a while ago, to abort his unwanted pups. The knife had left two ugly scars and although they weren't in danger of infection anymore, they would be visible for the rest of his life.

Now, there was only one thing to do. She carefully turned the hedgehog on his belly and examined his behind, like she had done it with Sonic once. She could make out some big wounds and as there was no way in heaven or hell, that she would ever copy Shadow's 'method' (she shuddered upon the mere thought), she grabbed a few cotton balls, long thin tweezers and a disinfecting fluid. She carefully drenched one of the cotton balls with the fluid, grabbed it with the tweezers and gently started to clean the wounds with it. She continued, until his wounds were all treated.

They would heal fast and thanks to her treatment, she was sure, that he wouldn't have a problem with it, besides maybe sit on his behind for a while. As his fur was still full with blood and sperm, she went to the sink in one corner, wet a towel with warm water, returned to Scourge and cleaned his face, shoulders and finally his lower region carefully as good as she could.

After she was done, she wrapped the sleeping male in the remaining blankets and brought him back to the cell.

Sonic and Silver hadn't moved from the spot, both awaiting Scourge's return. She placed Scourge back on their laps, Sonic immediately pulling the other as close, as possible. "I see you tomorrow.," she mumbled, but had to go, before she could explain, what that meant.

Once she was outside again, she had the same thought, as Shadow and Mephiles: sooner or later, they were bound to rape their ukes, too. But...if her plan worked, maybe...she could buy some more time.

* * *

When Scourge woke up again, he felt strangely comfortable and warm, although his tired mind and body didn't have anything against it. He didn't feel like standing up just now, he rather wanted to sleep some more...

He frowned annoyed, when he heard whispering voices in his range. "You've been awake for hours, you need to sleep!," a voice hissed. "I won't! I'm not tired, to your information!," another voice answered, much closer to him, than the first, as if he was lying on him. "And the bags under your eyes?" "Optical illusion." "Yeah, right."

Finally figuring, that he couldn't sleep for now, Scourge opened his eyes and was met with peach colored fur. Nearly immediately, the memory of a certain someone with a peach belly came back to him and he quickly rolled off to the other side, trying to escape the one, who hurt him that bad, and got on his hands and knees to stand up.

Just then, pain shot through him, that made him stop and he had a moment to look up, around and to realize, that the peach fur had belonged to Sonic, who looked at him quite shocked, like Silver next to him.

Judging by the way they sat, next to each other, covered with pillows and blankets to form a makeshift bed, he had slept on them and seeing the tired looks of the two, they didn't have any sleep lately.

Their semes stood left and right from them, he had obviously listened to an argument between Sonic and Shadow before.

Noticing, that somebody wasn't there, he looked around and jerked, when he saw a flash of yellow on the other side of the cell. He quickly looked away, before their eyes could meet, and his ears pressed to his skull. Once again, he relived the last day in all its details...

He tried to erase those painful memories, but he couldn't, so he attempted to stand up to distract himself a little, but as he was far away from anything he could lean on and still felt, even with getting a good night's rest, pretty weak, he couldn't hope to succeed.

"Here." He flinched, when he heard the voice and raised his head quickly. Sonic stood in front of him and held his hand out for him to take.

Scourge hesitated, but unless he wanted to crawl over to the next wall like a dog to try and maybe pull himself up, he had to accept his help. He looked away, but took his hand and let the other pull him up.

"Are you okay?," Sonic asked silently, they were close enough, that he didn't need to raise his voice.

"Why did I sleep on you?," was everything Scourge could reply. "You needed comfort.," Sonic answered calmly. Before Scourge could say something, the glass wall closer to them moved up and the door opened.

Sonic immediately pulled Scourge closer to him, growling silently at the door as a warning. Scourge was completely stunned: why was Sonic protecting him?!

"102, 245, 299, out!," a voice shouted. The hedgehogs stiffened. Just the ukes? Sonic hesitated, but knew, that they would get punished, if they didn't follow.

He let go of Scourge, went to Silver and helped him up. With the smaller male clinging to his arm, he returned to the green hedgehog. "Can you walk?," he asked. "I-I guess...," Scourge stuttered.

"Then let's go." Sonic turned around and smiled towards Shadow, who watched him worriedly and also briefly towards Mephiles, as if to reassure him, that nothing would happen to his uke. He ignored Fleetway, but smiled soothingly towards Scourge to promise him, that he would be fine. Then, they walked out of the cell, that got closed immediately after them.

* * *

Scourge had more trouble with walking, than he would have admitted, but the three humans, that had awaited them outside and were forcing them to walk in front of them, were strangely patient and didn't try to make them go faster, than the green uke could actually do.

They were brought in a small ward, that looked like a smaller version of Kylie's. This impression got even stronger, when they saw the woman next to the only bed. "Kylie!," Silver cheered and ran over to her, before Sonic or Scourge could stop him.

"Hey!," one of the men behind the hedgehogs shouted and grabbed his remote, thinking, that the silver uke wanted to attack.

"Stop!," Kylie shouted and although she meant the man, Silver stopped as well, just a few steps away from her, looking at her, confused and hurt.

"Interesting. It seems, as if you managed to tame one of those creatures." Sonic's quills raised upon hearing this cold voice. He looked in the direction of it and discovered the old man he last saw in the limousine, standing in a dark corner of the room and watching them with cold dark eyes.

"Oh, this...er...it's...just...coincidence, I guess. I...er...would rather proceed with the procedure now...," Kylie said, avoiding the topic, but she knew he would most likely bring it up again later.

She looked at the hedgehogs, her eyes asking them to not cause any trouble. "Come here.," she ordered, but the hedgehogs knew, that she forced this tone in her voice. Slowly, they came over to her, Silver looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Leave us.," she told the men, that had brought the hedgehogs in, and added, when she saw their faces, "You're scaring my patients and I need them calm."

The men looked over to Perringten, but when he didn't seem to mind her order, they obeyed and went out.

"Sit on the bed.," she told the hedgehogs, motioning to the piece of furniture. While Sonic could climb on it without a problem, Silver was too small and Scourge in too much pain for this.

Kylie didn't hesitate, she picked Silver up and set the giggling uke gently next to Sonic and then did the same to Scourge, who looked highly embarrassed because of this, though she made at least sure, that he didn't sit on his hurting behind with his whole weight.

The woman smiled at them, without Perringten noticing it, before she went to get a tray on wheels, that she pushed closer and on that Sonic saw, besides some other stuff, a LOT of needles. He swallowed. He had never been a friend of needles, but here, it was worse...

Kylie took a small rectangular thing out of white plastic from the tray and brought it over to Scourge, who looked at her confused.

"Put your finger in here.," she ordered, pointing to a small opening in the plastic box she held and added silently: "It will sting a bit, sorry."

Scourge's face didn't betray any emotion, when he shoved his right index finger in the hole. Kylie pressed a part of the box and Scourge flinched a bit, when he felt the aforementioned sting from a needle, that was pushed in his finger. "You can pull out now." The green uke did just that and sucked his lightly bleeding finger, while Kylie watched the little box for about a minute, before she said, "Negative." Scourge's ears twitched. Did this...mean, what he thought it meant!?

"What!?" Perringten marched over to Kylie and ripped the thing out of her hand, looking at it. "Did you use it correctly!?," he asked. "I did, sir.," the woman replied. The man bared his – not really impressive – 'fangs'.

"Do it again!," he ordered. "Yes, sir." Kylie went to a cabinet in one corner and got out another one.

This time, she didn't have to tell Scourge what to do, he was only too happy to comply, as he could imagine, what this thing was.

Again, it was negative.

Perringten gritted his teeth in frustration and got out his mobile. He dialed furiously, as if the little piece of technology was responsible for his mood and barked in the speaker, "Get another type of pregnancy test! NOW!" Then he hung up, retreated in his corner and muttered silently to himself.

Kylie meanwhile prepared everything to draw blood from the hedgehogs. "Stick out your arm.," she said to Silver, who obeyed immediately, his wagging tail even showed, that he looked forward to it. Kylie disinfected his arm and then gently inserted the needle to get some of his blood.

When she was done, she pulled the needle out and patched the puncture wound. She gently petted his head a little, before she took a pen, wrote something on a little tag and wrapped it around the vial with Silver's blood, before placing it in a plastic box standing in one corner of the tray.

Then she threw the needle away, replaced it with a new one, got a new vial and went to Sonic, who gulped nervously, but stuck out his arm. Kylie was, he had to admit, the most gentle person, who ever tried to draw blood from him, he barely felt anything. It was quickly over and soon she patched his wound, too, patting his shoulder in a reassuring way. Sonic smiled at her.

Scourge just let her draw the blood, trying to keep himself from grinning like an idiot. He wasn't pregnant! He didn't know, how this was possible, as he had a feeling, that Fleetway had raped him until he had smelled like pregnancy – at least, that's what he figured, he had known absolutely nothing about ukes and semes, until he had been captured and brought here – but he wouldn't complain.

Kylie was just done, when the door opened and another man in a lab coat came in running, carrying about ten rectangular cartons, that formed a sloppy excuse for a pyramid. "This were all...I...could...find...," he panted, pushing the pyramid in Kylie's arms, who let the cartons down on the tray. "You may go.," Perringten waved at him, not even thinking about thanking him. The man rushed out again.

Kylie took the top carton and held it out for Scourge to take. "Do you know how to use it?," she asked.

Before Scourge could answer, they heard Perringten sigh. "Doctor Ellen, although I'm impressed again and again from your knowledge, I can't understand, why you even ASSUME, that those animals know, how to be civilized." He shook his head.

Sonic and Scourge growled lowly. "Well, sir, I just thought that talking-" "Just what do you think? Even I have common knowledge! Obviously you-" Scourge stopped.

First, because he realized, that he shouldn't know this as a male and second, he noticed the glare this Perringten gave Kylie. Being nice to them included talking to them, as if they were persons, but for this guy and pretty much everyone here, they were nothing, but stupid animals. And although it was such a risk, being watched by her boss, Kylie still refused to treat them like dumb creatures. He should thank her and be nice to her, so, he sighed inwardly and continued, "-you... er... shit on it and wait an hour, right?" He gritted his teeth a bit. This was embarrassing.

The two humans blinked. Kylie, who could imagine why he said that, composed herself first. "As I tried to say, it never hurts to ask.," she said, before turning to Scourge and giving him the test. "You pee on this part of it and wait two minutes. Just tell me, what you see in the little rectangular window." She pointed on the parts of the stick she meant on the picture of it on the box.

"Right here? With pleasure!," Scourge grinned. As he was most likely not pregnant and this was only to satisfy the human man, his mood lifted for the first time, since he was here.

"No, we have a small bathroom." Kylie pointed to a door in another dark corner. She helped the green hedgehog off the bed and while he went to the bathroom, she got the other tests and brought them to him.

Scourge looked at her. "Wait – all of them? I can't pee that much!," the uke said, a little nervous.

"No problem." Kylie put the tests down, went to a sink in a corner and filled a glass with tap water, that she brought to Scourge. "There. Tell me, if when you need more."

"Oh, yeah, a great help.," Scourge grumbled, while he and the cartons got gently pushed in the small bathroom, that only contained a toilet. "And if you need a sperm sample, what will I get? A-"

Kylie, who got more and more embarrassed by this, threw the bathroom door shut with unnecessary force, cutting him off.

She noticed the stares she got from that and cleared her throat. "I think, 299 and 245 can return to their cell already.," she said.

"Agreed. I don't like the attitude those hedgehogs are getting.," Perringten grumbled, still pissed, that the pregnancy tests were negative. "Alright, come you two." Kylie motioned for the two to climb off the bed.

Sonic moved a little slower, than Silver, wanting to stall some time and maybe wait for Scourge, but in the end, the men from earlier came in and forced him and Silver out and back to the cell, while Kylie waited for Scourge to come back.

A minute later, he came out with one of the tests. "There. They look all the same, just didn't want to bring them all, it's kinda gross." He held the stick out for Kylie to read it, thankfully not expecting her to take it. "One red stripe, meaning negative.," she explained. "WHAT!?" Perringten pushed the woman aside, looked at the stick and then ran into the bathroom to check the others.

When he came back, he was seething and suddenly, he pounced on the unprepared Scourge, both hands around his thin neck. The test slid over the floor and away.

"HOW DID YOU DO THIS, YOU FREAK!? TELL ME! NOW!," Perringten screamed, while Scourge could barely get out a whimper.

"SIR, STOP-!" Kylie got interrupted, when the door behind her quite literally exploded, the air pressure throwing her on the floor.

She looked up and saw Sonic and Silver, who had their fangs buried in the wrists of Perringten. The man lay on his back now, the wheezing Scourge sitting between the two humans, massaging his throat. "ARGH! LET ME GO, YOU PESTS!," Perringten screamed, waving his arms as good as he could, to shake them off, but the Alpha and the Beta didn't react to it, they only bit stronger, not letting go.

"Stop it!" Kylie got on her feet and ran to the hedgehogs, but there she noticed, that their quills were everywhere, fawned out and standing straight, covering far more than their backs, making it impossible for her to try and pull them off. So this wasn't an option – and talking with them basically, too, Perringten would notice.

Upon hearing her coming closer, the hedgehogs looked up. Their eyes met with the woman's. Kylie gasped upon seeing the red color of their eyes.

As far as she knew, uke hedgehogs changed their eye color to red, when their protective instinct kicked in fully. Normally, this would only be the case, when their pups were in danger, they never worried that much about their semes, as they could defend themselves (and most of the time better, than the ukes). Did they feel this protective towards Scourge? He was a Gamma, meaning weaker, than them in general, and after the rape, he was most likely still weak and vulnerable. Like a big pup...

That would explain Sonic's behavior right now, he tried to keep Perringten from hurting Scourge more! And as all Betas followed their Alpha, Silver copied his actions.

She shook her head briefly and concentrated on the present. She could analyze the situation later. Now, she needed to calm them down...or better, "Scourge, tell them, that you're alright!," she hissed towards the green uke silently, so Perringten wouldn't hear it, her eyes still on the other two.

"Do I SOUND _alright_ to you?," Scourge croaked, his voice hoarse. Obviously, Perringten had hurt his throat.

"I know you aren't, but you have to get Sonic and Silver to calm down, or they might kill him...!" With a certain worry, she noticed, how red the sleeves of his lab coat already were, drenched in the blood from his wrists, while he still tried to shake the hedgehogs off like flies.

If this went on longer, she couldn't predict, what they would do next. They could really kill him, even if it was just by accident. If they bit another part of his wrists, cutting a vein... "Fine by me.," Scourge growled.

Kylie averted her gaze off the two hedgehogs and looked at him now, telling him with just her glare to get his hedgehog behind into action.

Of course, she knew, who she asked him to save, but she had some reason left – the hedgehogs would be seen as a dangerous threat, if it wasn't already too late to prevent that, and they would be treated as such, if he didn't get them to calm down. Or worse – she didn't want to know, what would happen, if Perringten actually died and the complex was left without its leader. Hell would break loose and she was pretty sure, that this would end badly for the hedgehogs. So, Perringten had to survive. And she didn't want her friends to become murderers.

Scourge rolled his eyes, but forced himself to stand up. "Hey, guys. Look, stop it, okay?," he croaked, although it didn't sound, like he cared. He really had trouble with speaking, but still, the two ukes seemed to listen. At once, they let loose of the human's arms and jumped off him, coming to stand left and right from the third uke.

Just a second later, they blinked and their eyes returned to normal, when they opened them again, while their muscles lost all tension.

Confused, they looked around. "What are we doing here? And what's that taste in my mouth?," Sonic asked and touched his bottom lip, that was, like a big part of his muzzle, too, full with blood. He drew his hand back and looked at the red liquid on his fingertips. "Is that blood?," he asked and looked around frantically. His eyes widened upon seeing Silver as dirty as he was, in the same place and with the same liquid. "S-Silver? Are you-!?," he stuttered, his heart racing.

"Calm down. It's his.," Scourge interrupted and nodded to Perringten, who just lay on his back, trying to gather his bearings, or maybe he was unconscious.

Silver whined, overwhelmed from that. He had never before in his entire life hurt anyone! "Kylie, help!," he whimpered.

Kylie walked to him, went on her knees and gently hugged him. "It's okay. Come, we just wash it off." As Perringten seemed okay for now, she decided to take care of the hedgehogs first.

She picked Silver up and went to the sink, from that she got the water for Scourge earlier. Sonic followed them, wanting to get the stuff off himself and Scourge joined him, wanting as much distance between him and the human man, as possible. Kylie sat Silver on the edge of the sink, turned on the water, held a clean towel under it and then cleaned his muzzle gently from the blood.

"What happened?," Sonic asked, while she was at it. "This asshole over there wanted to kill me because I'm not pregnant, but you two came just in time.," Scourge explained, rubbing his still sore throat.

Immediately, Sonic got worried. "Did he hurt you very much? Let me see!" Before Scourge really understood, what he meant, Sonic had already lifted his chin, so he could easier look at his throat.

"H-hey, no need for that!," Scourge stuttered and took a step back, freeing himself out of Sonic's grasp. Both hedgehogs blushed, when they realized, what had just happened between them.

"Wash out your mouth, then the bad taste goes away.," Kylie said to the freshly cleaned Silver, washed out the towel and gave it to Sonic, so he could clean himself. "Thanks." As there wasn't a mirror – or anything, that reflected enough, to see himself – in the room, he simply tried to get rid of everything, that he felt on his skin.

Scourge watched him from the corner of his eye and finally shook his head. "Give me that, you look like you just murdered someone." He took the towel and wiped away the remains of the blood Sonic just didn't get. "And if you EVER tell someone of this, I will find a way to murder you.," Scourge threatened under his breath, while he wiped his muzzle. "I...see...," Sonic said slowly. He didn't feel threatened and therefore, his reaction wasn't a frightened one. Something told him, that Scourge couldn't harm him...

Scourge was finally done and threw the towel in the sink on that Sonic, after Silver got down from it, sat to wash out his mouth as well. When he was done, Kylie ushered them to the exit, wanting them out of Perringten's range, but sadly she wasn't fast enough.

Suddenly, all three hedgehogs cried out, collapsed and rolled around, while trying to get their collars off, screaming in agony.

Kylie whipped around and saw Perringten on his belly, his bloody fist slammed down on the remote, watching with sadistic glee, how the hedgehogs writhed in pain and listened to their screams with a cold smile.

"Stop, you're killing them!," Kylie shouted, when she heard two 'SNAP!'s behind her, shortly after each other. She turned around again and saw Silver and Scourge unconscious on the floor and Sonic standing above them, their broken collars in each of his hands, screaming still, seemingly louder.

Kylie couldn't stand it. She turned around once more and ripped the remote out of Perringten's grasp, pressing the buttons again to end the electrocuting. Immediately, the screams died down and Sonic collapsed between the other two hedgehogs. But she could see all three of them still breathing, that was good. But their semes would most likely be furious.

"Dr. Ellen, what's the meaning of this!?" Perringten stood up again. "How dare you! I was punishing those ukes!"

Kylie swallowed. She had somehow forgotten, whom she had stolen the remote. Now, she needed a GOOD explanation – and fast! "I...er...I...was just...fearing, that...too much electricity might...er... be the reason...for...er...the failure of the experiment!," she exclaimed.

"What?," Perringten asked, dumbfounded. "I...well...as you might remember, number 102 was shocked, unlike the other two. Of course, I have no proof, that my theory is true, but he might not be pregnant because of the shocking. Maybe...his body reacted in a way we couldn't predict by building some kind of inner contraceptive..." It was the most ridiculous thing she ever said – but Perringten seemed to believe it.

"I see...but I need some way to control the semes still...," he mumbled in thought. "I-if I may suggest something?," Kylie asked, trying to help her friends further.

Perringten looked at her. "Well, why not telling them, that you replaced the collars with some kind of chip you set under their skin? Just tell them, that the chip is worse, than the damage the collar causes."

"Wouldn't they notice it's a lie, when they don't find a chip?," he asked, but then seemed to have an idea by himself. "Thanks, Dr. Ellen, a great advice! Now then, let's get those ukes back!"

* * *

As the security men, who had been bringing Sonic and Silver back to the cell, had been knocked out by the hedgehogs, lying sprawled out in the hallway, Kylie had the 'honor' to carry the three ukes.

It was most likely because if someone got shredded by the furious semes, it should be her, she thought annoyed.

As she didn't have much choice or alternatives, she held Scourge, so he was sitting on her hand, put Silver on his lap and held Sonic, whose collar she had cut through with scissors beforehand, in her other arm. It looked most likely very funny, but it had to do. Luckily, the way wasn't that long.

The guards in front of the door looked at her confused, but opened it, when Perringten ordered them to.

The semes went stiff, when they saw the human man, but paled, when Kylie came in with their unconscious ukes.

She came to stand next to the man, trying to signal them discretely, that they weren't dead, but the semes solely looked at Perringten, as he was the greatest threat in the room. "Come, get them.," he smirked.

Reluctantly, the semes stood up and Shadow came slowly closer. Kylie bent down, so that he could reach Sonic easily. He gently picked the male up and then quickly retreated to the wall opposite from the one way window and the humans.

Then Mephiles and Fleetway, who made a bow, so he didn't have to go close around Perringten, came also closer.

They took their ukes and went to Shadow, he and Mephiles letting Fleetway stay in their range for now.

"What did you do to them?," the dark and red hedgehog asked, holding Sonic as close as possible. "Oh, nothing they didn't deserve."

Shadow noticed the red sleeves of the lab coat he wore and the faint smell of blood coming from the unharmed Sonic and could imagine for himself, what he meant. He had to suppress a proud smirk towards his uke.

"And the collars?," he asked further instead, noticing, that they were gone. "I replaced them with something better. A chip, to be precise, in each of their necks. I wouldn't touch them, if I were you, just the slightest pressure on them will make them break and...well, their contents aren't the safest for your ukes."

Three pairs of eyes widened upon hearing that. "Also, those chips have a worse effect, than the collars and just so you know – one strong electricity pulse in this region of their bodies is all it takes to paralyze them permanently, so you better teach your ukes, how to behave."

Kylie herself felt chills going down her spine, even though she knew it was all just a lie. He was a scarily good actor...

Perringten seemed satisfied with scaring them, so he simply turned around and left the cell with Kylie, who didn't dare to say or do something to calm her friends down, as long, as he was close, behind him. She would later find a way to let them know the truth.

Once the door was closed, Perringten turned to her. "I will go now, Dr. Ellen, and let the drawn blood analyze. Take good care of the ukes and inform me immediately, when they are healthy enough again to mate." "Of course, sir.," Kylie replied, although she wasn't keen on doing that.

* * *

Shadow didn't know, for how long he had sat next to the mattress, on that Sonic rested. It seemed, as if it were years.

Their breakfast and lunch had come already, but Sonic and the other two ukes had slept through it. He had kept both plates back, so Sonic could eat, when he woke up. The other two semes had done the same.

A few hours after they had gotten their lunch, the blue uke finally opened his eyes. He looked around with tired eyes and discovered Shadow next to his makeshift bed. "Shadow? W-what happened?," he asked, clearly confused. "I hoped you could tell me. Kylie brought you three back unconscious...," Shadow started.

Sonic's eyes widened upon hearing that and he sat up at once, which hurt his body to the point he had to bite his lip to not cry out in pain.

Shadow grabbed his shoulders and carefully laid him down again. "You shouldn't move, it hurts you too much!," he warned.

"Silver...and Scourge...are they okay?," Sonic asked over the pain. "Of course, their semes are taking care of-" Sonic looked at him with narrowed eyes, cutting him off. "You let this _rapist_ in Scourge's range!?," he seethed.

"I...er...," was Shadow's intelligent answer. He hadn't thought about it, Sonic had been everything on his mind for hours.

"That's it, I'm getting him out of there-!" Sonic tried to sit up, but winced and gritted his teeth in pain again.

"No, wait! I'll get him, okay?" Before Sonic could answer, Shadow already stood up and went over to Fleetway, who was in his corner with the unconscious Scourge in his arms, clinging to him, as if he tried to make it up to the abused uke this way.

He looked up, when Shadow came closer and hugged Scourge a little tighter. "NO!," he hissed, baring his fangs. He could guess, what the other wanted.

Shadow wasn't keen on trying to rip Scourge out of the other's grasp, that's why he stated a fact: "Either I take him, or Sonic gets him.," he said simply.

Fleetway paled. This damn uke really WAS scary, after that stunt from yesterday, he wasn't keen on meeting this hedgehog anytime soon again. He swallowed, reluctantly let Scourge go and allowed Shadow to take him and carry him away.

For the dark agent, this situation was strange to say the least – normally, he wouldn't even carry a villain like Scourge, when he got injured during their chase. But if something happened to him under his care, Sonic would throw a tantrum... Even now, he felt the green eyes on him, watching his every move to make sure, that he didn't hurt Scourge.

While it was strange and unsettling, Shadow felt also oddly... proud. He liked, that Sonic was feared, maybe because he didn't have anything to fear himself. He somehow knew, that Sonic would never hurt him...although he had doubted that a little, while he had been busy with Fleetway yesterday.

Shadow finally reached Sonic, who he had placed as far away as possible from the yellow seme, and let Scourge down next to him on the pillows and blankets. Scourge, feeling colder without the body warmth, frowned and whimpered unwillingly, subconsciously wanting it back.

Sonic turned slowly, now and then wincing, on his side, grabbed a close blanket and clumsily covered him up.

Scourge shifted a little to get comfortable and settled down finally, while Sonic turned on his back again to look on his other side, where Silver lay in a new nest – the last one had been destroyed, when the cell had been cleaned –, watched by Mephiles. Sighing in relief, Sonic brought himself in a comfortable position to rest some more. The others were okay, that was all, that counted for him.

Shadow sat down between the two ukes, who looked so incredibly alike, relieved, that Sonic was resting.

The blue one's worry for the other ukes was understandable, he would never deny it – but there were times, when he had to think about himself. Although it seemed, as if he had to do this for now.

* * *

Kylie watched the hedgehogs lost in thought. She was trying to estimate, what medicine she should give the ukes to help them recover from the shocking without any problems, or side effects. She had to be careful with that, especially Sonic was in a delicate state, as his shocking had been thrice as strong.

She was still planning her next move, when she heard the door open. She turned around and saw Perringten coming to her.

He had his head hung low and was walking strangely slow. To show her – fake – respect, Kylie stood up and faced him. "I just came from the lab, the results are there.," Perringten said, still strangely interested in the floor in front of him. He kept being silent, as if he wanted her to ask.

"Er...s-so?," Kylie asked, having suddenly a bad feeling. "Well, there was indeed a little thing, that stood out. Do you want to guess, Dr. Ellen?"

"I-" Before she had the chance to react, she was hit with something so hard and fast on her left temple, that she fell to the floor, hitting her head on one of the many computers. She came to sit on her knees, tears flowing from her eyes, while she looked up at the now taller person through a few strands of her hair.

Perringten glared icily down on the trembling woman. "Did you really THINK, I wouldn't get behind your little trick? And more importantly – did you really think, I would simply go over this!?" He pressed the end of his walking stick in her throat, pushing her in the corner and keeping her there. "ANSWER ME!," he shouted, applying more pressure on her throat to the point he nearly penetrated it.

Kylie tried to think, to breathe, but both seemed too much to ask for right now. The only thing, that came into her mind was, _It's over_. Otherwise, her head was empty.

She had thought about an excuse beforehand, too used to this to forget it – but it simply wouldn't come to her mind. She had never expected, that Perringten would hit her.

"I SAID, ANSWER!" Perringten pulled his stick away and held it now like a bat, ready to beat the terrified woman, when...

"SIR!" A young man rushed suddenly in, wearing the typical uniform of the security staff. "Sir, I found the saboteur of your experiment!," he panted. "Yes, as did I.," Perringten growled, having not once looked away from Kylie and raised his arm with the stick. "It was Hubens, sir!," the man said quickly.

Perringten froze. He needed a moment to understand this and then slowly turned around, letting his walking stick down.

"What?," he asked, speechless. "I just interrogated him, he told the whole truth. He had tried to drug the ukes, but the drug had an unexpected side effect." "But...the test results..." "Also a side effect, I guess." "There was only in one of the probes traces..." "Well, it's a Gamma. Its metabolism is the weakest."

Perringten nodded, deep in thought. He turned around again to Kylie, but avoided her eyes at any cost. "How much?," he asked quietly.

Kylie blinked. How much? How much what? She noticed movement behind him and saw the young man, who just saved her life, holding a paper, on that he wrote the number 500. Well, Perringten wanted a number, right? "500.," she said, although she still didn't know, what this meant.

Perringten nodded. "Agreed. 500.000. Tomorrow on your account. Continue and have a nice day." With that, he turned around and left the room.

Kylie just sat there. ...What had just happened? She flinched a little, when the young man sighed. She hadn't realized, that he was still there.

"That. Was. Tight. Seriously, any tighter and he would've killed you." The man plopped down on the ground next to the closed door, he looked exhausted. Kylie didn't know, what to do. She still didn't know, how she had escaped this. "I have to admit it, it's impressive how you help the ukes here.," the man continued.

Kylie jumped. He knew!? "Don't worry, I don't want to make you trouble, I'd like to help you. Well, I'd like to help you more." He smiled at the stunned woman.

"Why?," was everything Kylie got out. "What can I say? Those three ukes over there impressed me like no one before." He nodded to the window behind Kylie. "And Silver mentioned you, so I thought you could be different..." "Y-you...know his name?" Most of the people here couldn't even remember the number on the collar, when the hedgehog wasn't in sight! And how should he have heard of them, they weren't written down somewhere and the hedgehogs weren't telling them for sure, too.

But this one... It was a young man, maybe only twenty years old. He had brown short hair and brown eyes, that weren't cold like the others'. "Who are you?," Kylie asked. The man showed an unsure smile, before he answered,

"My name's John. John...Perringten."

* * *

Don't know, when I can upload the next chapter, but I hurry as always!


	13. Change of a never tainted heart

This took FOREVER! Must be, because it's chapter 13... Anyway, have fun!

* * *

 **13: Change of a never tainted heart**

Being a child isn't easy. All the do's and don'ts, the rules, you're too small to reach the interesting things – and your parents almost never listen to you, but you have to listen to them.

Being a rich child is even worse. You either get spoiled to the point you're bound to get a rotten character, or you're raised by everyone, but your parents, so that you never learn, what true feelings are and how you express them.

Being the child of Jester Perringten... was the worst.

John had lived since his birth with his mother, a nice woman, from who he inherited his eyes and hair color. He barely remembered more of her, or his old home, though, as she had died because of a disease, when he had been four years old.

He hadn't been done with grieving his loss, when he had already been brought to the giant mansion, where his father, who he had never before heard of, lived. Jester Perringten had awaited him and his escort with a sour expression. Not out of grief – this child had held him up on his work.

John still remembered, how he had stood in front of this man with black hair and dark eyes and had asked the woman, who had been assigned to bring him here, "Who's that?". "That's your daddy.," had been the answer. "Really? He doesn't look like it.," he had answered.

It had been the child's way to tell her, that he had known, that he hadn't been welcome or loved by this man. Not that it had helped him, as his only remaining relative, Jester Perringten had been assigned to take care of him.

And so, little John had been left with a man, who didn't know what love was – and wasn't interested in learning it.

From that day on, John saw very little of his father. He only came out of his study, when he visited the library – that even now had to be the biggest one in the world –, had to use the bathroom or went in the kitchen to eat something. It had always been fast food, that he had let deliver to his home, thrice a day. He had bought a delivery service and was paying the people working there good to fulfill this request.

Thankfully, they had brought always more than enough, so there had been left overs for John to eat. Jester hadn't even thought about ordering food for his son. After the boy had met some people of the delivery service, they had started to bring healthy stuff, like vegetables and fruits, and sometimes sweets, too, so the growing boy would get some vitamins and good things. The healthy nourishment had most likely saved his life.

Jester didn't even come out to sleep, he seemed to sleep at his desk, while John spent the night sitting opposite from his door on the carpet.

As there had been no staff in the whole house – it could rot for all Jester cared – John had spent his days with cleaning up. He hadn't thought anything about it – he had often helped his mother in the household, this had been just...more. It had been better, than sitting in front of the closed door of the study and wait for his father to come out, just to be ignored still.

Once, he had tried to block his path, only to get run over. It had been close to a miracle, that he had only gotten a few bruises from this crash, as Jester hadn't slowed down in the slightest. He hadn't even noticed, that he had hurt him – and even if he had, he couldn't have cared less. After this, John had started with his cleaning.

His goal: getting praised for the clean house. Just...getting noticed. Spoken to. The guys from the delivery service had been his only contact and they hadn't been allowed longer in the house than necessary, thus his father was the only one he could speak to.

He had been so determined to impress him, that he had never even once thought about running away. He had had a goal and had wanted to achieve it. But no matter, how clean the house got, it didn't help him getting Jester to notice him in the slightest.

If it would have gone like that forever, John would be the pale, bad dressed – he of course hadn't gotten clothes, he had worn, what he had found – and unsocial male equivalent of a maid by now. But one day, everything had changed.

He had been seven – he had never gone to school, all he had known considering general knowledge, reading, writing, etc., had he taught himself painfully slow – when he had found under the sofa, where he had been vacuuming, a file. Curiously, he had started to read it...well, what he had could read. He hadn't understood all he had read, but he had had the feeling, that it had been important.

Looking back now, John asked himself, if that had been a test, or something like that. If it had been, he had passed it.

The same day, he had asked his father, when he had come in the kitchen to eat his dinner, what an uke was.

John remembered this day, how Jester had stopped eating, looking at him in shock. "How do you know that?," he had asked and John had answered, that he had read it in a file he had found. "Are you really interested in finding that out?" "Of course!" As this had been their first talk since three years, John would have answered everything to keep it up.

He hadn't noticed the look of pure greed in the older one's eyes. "Very well. Get some rest. Tomorrow, you shall learn more.," Jester Perringten had answered and John had simply cheered in pure joy. He wouldn't be alone anymore!

The next day, he had for the first time in literal years seen his father's study. It had been full with files and books, both forming towers, taller than the boy, on the floor. From this day on, Perringten had taught his son everything about ukes and semes during the next years. Reading, mathematics and writing he had learned, so to say, as a side effect, too.

He had learned of the hierarchy of hedgehogs, of the powers hedgehogs could have, had tried with Jester to find ways to tame them. He had even helped to realize the Island-project.

Just the important things he had never learned... at least, not under his father's control. When the Island-project had finally been started, he had been seventeen – and had absolutely absorbed his father's opinions to the point they had been his own. For him, those hedgehogs had been nothing but animals, only worth something, if they were bred.

He had been delighted, like his father, when their captured hedgehogs had been pregnant, and disappointed, when the pups had been unable to live, which had been always the case...

Then, there had been this one uke, that had for the first time...let him stop in his daily routine... and think.

Number 102. Unlike all the other ukes – to that he had started to refer as _filthy beasts_ – he hadn't have any sex. Quite the contrary, he had fought against it, until he had been too weak and even after a successful mating...he...had looked so broken. Not pleasured, not happy, like the others had – that's how he had _thought_ they had looked, at least. Just... broken.

He had felt quite bad to knock him out. Yes, he had been assigned as one of those collectors. Even though he thought much better of his son now, Perringten rather gave important work to more experienced people.

John's feelings for the uke had been forgotten, however, when he hadn't been pregnant. To please his father, he had looked himself in the matter and had finally found a drug, that would take care of the problem – but it hadn't worked! The uke had been immune to drugs.

So he had worked farther and had found the solution: if they mixed the drug with his blood, they could trick his body and let it get drugged, as it wouldn't see the stuff as something foreign and dangerous anymore.

He had been celebrated like a superstar, when he had presented his solution – and even his father had praised him with a "Good work." His first praise from him! Ever! He had even got promoted to a higher rank, he had become a scientist!

He had been quite literally on cloud nine for a good while – until the blasted green uke hadn't gotten pregnant again. And he had gotten the blame! They had said, that his idea had had an unwanted side effect. Pah!

But the shock and the degradation to the security personal had been his rescue, he saw this now.

He had been so busy with finding a solution, that he hadn't paid much attention to his work and done it like on automatic. One thing, however, had been stuck in his brain and in his shocked condition after his punishment, he had remembered it.

Number 245. The weakest hedgehog he had ever met. He had had to spend months in the ward and then, it had been his duty to bring him to the container to be shipped to paradise. He had been too early and the uke hadn't been asleep yet – it was usual to knock them out, so they didn't try to flee, until they were locked up for good and ready to go. He hadn't wanted to waste his time, that's why he had simply taken the uke and carried him over, not bothering with putting him in a cage on wheels, as usual.

And then, it had happened. The little hedgehog, that he had carried bridal style, had opened his eyes. "Kylie's crying.," he had mumbled, before he had fallen asleep.

It had astounded him for just one reason: he hadn't known, that hedgehogs could actually talk. He had thought, that they were just 'developed' animals – according to an opinion of his father. As the most he had seen of hedgehogs had been the drugged couples, it hadn't been so surprising, that he had believed that.

Of course, he had heard some utter one word or two, but he thought, that they just spoke, what they heard, like parrots. But this... Nobody had said that, he had had no idea, who this Kylie was! Someone he had known, before he had come here? Yeah, that had to be it. And he had just shoved the memory away from him again.

However, the third hedgehog had managed to actually stay in his mind.

Number 299. He was bothering him in more than one way, if he was honest. Unlike the other hedgehogs, that they simply got off the street, or whose deaths they faked, he was popular. His disappearance, that they couldn't cover up with a fake death without raising suspicion, would sooner or later be noticed and they would be discovered.

As he had believed back then, that they were doing good by giving the ukes, what they wanted and needed – sex and pups – he had thought, that the rest of the world was wrong to deny it to them and, that they shouldn't be stopped. Well, he had been just sugarcoating it, but what else could he have done? He had grown up with this, it had been his world.

The other thing he didn't like about this blue hedgehog was the fact, that he was a hero. Whenever he heard this word, hero, he felt angry. Why? He didn't know.

He had pushed the thoughts aside, when he and the five other men had come to paradise to collect the ukes and semes in like always.

This day would change him forever.

He remembered, how one of the others had been thrown out the cave, where 299 and 125 had been in, and how he and another one had been ordered to climb up there to distract the uke, who had been responsible for this mess.

He hadn't thought much of it and simply obeyed. When he thought about it now, he didn't remember, what he had expected to see, when he had reached the cave. What he had actually seen, had been different from everything he could have imagined. The uke had stood in front of them, his quills raised, like he had never seen it before, snarling at them with a glare, that had pierced his very soul.

And behind him, barely visible through his fur color and the fact, that he was hidden by the uke, had been the seme. The uke hadn't tried to protect himself, he had left himself wide open for any attack. No, he...had actually tried to protect the seme! But...this didn't make sense! From what he had known, the uke got protected by the seme, not the other way round!

CRACK!

The first crack in a whole tower of lies, built in his mind. And after that line had been crossed, there was no turning back. John needed to know more.

His father had used to say, that there were always exceptions, when they had come across a fact, that didn't fit in their theories. 102 had been exception one. 245 exception two. And then 299. Three exceptions in a row? No, impossible! He refused to believe it.

So he had started to swap shifts with others to have time to do some research. And it became a lot of research. One by one he discovered every lie his father ever told him. He hacked his private files, sneaked in his laboratory and office and searched for every proof against his words.

Although the hedgehogs were proof enough – 125 and 299 really rose hell on the Island. First 125, Shadow was his name, as he could read in his file, who had killed forty men with nothing but energy, then 299, no, Sonic, who had destroyed a whole lab and nearly killed his father.

The reason he survived? Dr. Ellen, the only female here.

He had actually watched her, how she had calmed the uke down just by talking with him... When he thought about it... wasn't her name Kylie? Had 24- SILVER meant her? Interesting... And really, he had read through her file and found several entries, that indicated, that the ukes were 'strangely calm', when she was around. Did she help the ukes? If so, he really had to meet her! After all he learned for himself, he was determined to destroy this project – and Kylie could be a valuable help, he was sure of it.

But when he had finally found time and courage to go in her new office, she wasn't there. A quick check on his father's private agenda – it had been a mistake to have an electronic one – told him, where she was and why.

In thought, he had watched the hedgehogs and seen, how Sonic had fed Scourge, who looked simply miserable. Well, he knew, what his father had wanted from them and he had had obviously success with the green uke. Hard to believe, that Kylie let this happen. If it would have been him, he would have...

His eyes widened. Maybe she did! If so, she would have a real problem, as Sonic was feeding already the third bowl of soup to Scourge. If she had wanted to be safe, then... Oh, yeah. She was in trouble.

It was a good thing, that he knew, thanks to the many swapped shifts, a lot about the people working around him by now and had an idea, who he could use as a scapegoat.

The old Hubens, a pretty crazy man, who was inventing new drugs. It was easy to make him believe, that he put drugs in the soups of the ukes to impress his father. Just in time, too – his father had been in the middle of killing the woman.

After Jester had been convinced – John had trained for this little rescue, of course –, he had asked Kylie how much it would cost him for her to never mention this incident again. It was his way to ask for forgiveness. Knowing that, John had prepared a note with the number 500 on it – 500.000 were peanuts for someone like his father.

And now, they stood here, in this room, all alone and he had to make her believe, that he was a friend, who wanted to help.

And... _maybe_ it hadn't been the best idea to use his real name for his introduction, judging by the look he got from the woman.

* * *

Kylie was unsure how to react. It was hard to believe, that someone like Perringten had a child. The man had absolutely no emotions, how did this work? And also, when they had talked, he had sounded, as if he barely knew his son... It was strange for her.

"You didn't expect him to be a good father, did you?," John asked. Slowly, Kylie stood up, leaning against the computers for support.

"Why should you help the ukes?" _Why should I... should_ we _trust you?_ , she seemed to ask as well.

"As I said, those three over there impressed me and helped me see the lies my father kept telling me, since I was seven."

Kylie decided not to ask further about this. "Who is this Hubens?," she asked instead. "Hubens? He invents drugs for my father. He's crazy, I told him, that he put his new drug in their food, stole three probes of it of course."

Kylie looked away. "It's true, huh? You mixed contraceptives in it." Still no reaction. "It's your luck, that I was here during your meeting and watched the three. Sonic and Silver gave their portions to Scourge."

Kylie flinched a little. "That's how he found out. They gave him an overdose." Kylie sat on her chair, but turned around to John.

"Is it dangerous?," John asked. "No, thankfully not. I choose their medicaments very carefully. I knew, what...what he wanted to do, that's why I gave them contraceptives beforehand, even the semes, to lessen their lust. Sadly, it wasn't enough. To make it worse, Scourge was raped four times, until the contraceptive lost effect. I mixed some in their dinner, too, before I met with him and Stance, just to be sure." She looked to John. "What will he do? To this Hubens?"

"Kill him, most likely.," John shrugged. He noticed Kylie's mortified expression. "He is 90 years old, crazy and experimented with a passion on ukes, that didn't get pregnant. Would YOU rather die?," he asked, confused from her reaction. He thought, she would be relieved!

Kylie gave him a hard look. "Nobody deserves to die. Even if it saved my life.," she muttered. "You are strange, you know that?," the young man said.

Kylie frowned. John REALLY didn't understand her. He never learned...or experienced... empathy.

To change the topic and to hopefully avoid it, she asked, "You said you discovered...your father's lies, right? Do you know, what he plans? Or how you can stop him?"

"Well, I know some things, but not everything. For example, he always told me, that the born pups were dead, but now I know, that most of them were completely fine. They just didn't have any use for him."

Again this shrugging. One more time and he would regret it, she decided. "What...did he do...to the pups?" "That's part of what I don't know. In theory, we would have a mountain of dead pups here by now, but there isn't anything. He does something with them, but I don't know, what." "He told me, that the pups are from Deltas..." John chuckled. "Not completely, no. We have about 50 percent Deltas, 30 percent Gammas and 20 percent Betas plus one Alpha here. Most of them...just don't meet his standards."

Kylie's mouth fell open. "Meet. His _standards_? What. Are. His. _Standards_!?," she hissed, paled out of rage, her balled fists trembling. "I'm not sure, I didn't have time yet to read and compare their files. But as they do a blood test on every pup, it's something in their blood. Maybe it's something responsible for them being immune to the drugs." "Besides those they mix with their blood." "I know. That was my idea. My father just stole it from me." Kylie looked up. "What?," she asked sharply. "This idea came from me..."

He didn't get any farther, as Kylie was suddenly in front of him, grabbed his shoulders, lifted him up on his feet and started to shake him. "Are you CRAZY!? Do you know what you did to them with this!?," she shouted at him.

John looked at her shocked. "It's not my fault." He looked away. "I just wanted to... hear him say... 'Good job'. Just once. I know, that it was wrong, but back there, I didn't care." Kylie let him loose upon hearing that and he walked past her to the window, looking at the resting ukes and the semes, who watched them. "Those three ukes are different. They... turned all my knowledge...all I thought, that was real... my _world_...upside down." He chuckled weakly.

"And I can't even stand Sonic. This _hero_." He frowned. "Though, it's impressive. He's drugged 24/7, and is still this resistant."

"Wait – he's what?," Kylie asked. "Hm? Didn't my father tell you? As he's an Alpha, he has mixed the air, that gets in this cell, with a drug based on his blood. To keep him at his weakest."

"All the time?" Kylie watched the monitor, that showed her the uke's vitals with worry. That was bound to become problematic. He was weak enough through the shocking already.

"Yep. Just how did you think they got him? They drugged him again and again to let him appear like a weak uke, with all the unproved symptoms of one. He was sure, that this fox would look the matter up and then find all the mostly wrong or outdated information. My father really didn't want anything to go wrong, as you see."

"Why Sonic? He couldn't know, that he's an Alpha, he said himself, that he didn't know it until...well..." To be honest, Kylie had forgotten to ask just how exactly he categorized the hedgehogs.

"It had been his behavior. Most ukes are rarely this brave and fighting. And when you look at his body, you see, that he's an uke. Therefore, my father wanted him."

"To breed his own private army." Although he hadn't said that directly, Kylie had understood that much.

But – it didn't make sense! Even if Sonic, Silver and Scourge got pregnant and gave birth to healthy pups, he couldn't just throw babies in a fight. Even the most talented child needed training and a hedgehog pup would need at least one year, if not more, to develop enough physically and mentally to be able to train its powers. And this training could take years.

"One more point I don't understand. He should know, that it takes a lot of time. But my father always has an ace up his sleeve, I'm sure, he has something planned for that. He knows ukes after all.," John shrugged. Kylie thought about it and her eyes widened, when she realized, what his plan was.

"Mother instinct!," she exclaimed, making John jump. "What?" "This asshole plans to use their mother instinct." Kylie came to stand next to the young man, watching the hedgehogs as well. "Every mother would do everything she could to save her young – even obey the one, who has her pups' lives in his hands."

"Ah, I see. Sure, that way he would have six hedgehogs at his command, until the little ones are ready. And then he simply breeds them again to create more. Clever, I have to admit it.," John mumbled, when he noticed Kylie trembling next to him.

"What's wrong?," he asked, a little startled to see also tears running down her cheeks. "This has to stop. He knows, how to get them to mate and he knows, that it works. I need to get them out, but how? HOW!?" She slammed her fist down on the table in front of her, sobbing.

The pressure of protecting her friends just got worse by a million times. She had no idea, how to protect her friends anymore. Their fate had been sealed.

"Why don't you just ask me?," she heard the voice next to her and looked up.

* * *

Shadow had a feeling, that their dinner should have come by now, but there was enough food for Sonic anyway, when he woke up, so he wasn't concerned about that.

The blue uke on the other hand was still sleeping peacefully and didn't show signs of waking up yet and this worried Shadow, as he still had no clue just what had happened to him and the other two. Was he injured internally? Would he recover? Was he doing everything right, or wrong? Was he maybe even harming him!?

Scourge groaned, while Shadow was silently panicking, and opened his eyes. He blinked tiredly and looked around.

He spotted Shadow, who only looked at him and sat at his side to please Sonic, not because he wanted to.

"What happened?," he asked, the same question as Sonic. "I don't know. You came back unconscious.," Shadow answered shortly.

Scourge frowned, while he tried to remember. "Right...this psycho tried to murder me...and then Sonic and Silver came...saving me... and then...this pain..."

He reached up to touch his now bare throat. His eyes widened. "Sonic... took it off...," he mumbled, incredulously. "Sonic!? How!?," Shadow asked alarmed. "He just...ripped it off... Silver's, too, I think."

Mephiles, who had started to listen after Silver's name had been mentioned the first time, turned to his uke and carefully brushed the fur on his neck aside to look at the skin hidden under it. It was red, looked irritated and formed the shape of a ring, most likely going around his neck. The burns weren't that bad, they wouldn't infect, but they would hurt for a while. Shadow had also begun to check Sonic's skin under his fur. Around his neck and on the insides of his hands were burns noticeable and he was worried about it. Especially the wounds on his hands were severe.

Before he could get too worried, however, the door, that hadn't opened since the cell had been this big and in front of which sat Fleetway, opened and Kylie slipped in, closing the door. Shadow frowned. Not only was she acting so strange, as if she was sneaking in – in a cell, which was really ironic –, she also had her long hair brushed over the left half of her face, cutting it in half and she wore a scarf, although it was summer – at least he was pretty sure it was. She carried a box, that seemed to be a first-aid kit. The glass wall moved up to allow her to enter and closed again, once she was in.

"Hey.," she smiled and passed Fleetway, giving him also a small smile, which was the first nice gesture towards him since a while. The human came closer to the other hedgehogs, careful not to step on the full dishes, or a pillow, that could make her trip.

Upon hearing her coming closer, Sonic's ear flicked and he opened his eyes, discovering the almost towering human above him right away.

"Kylie?," he mumbled, propping himself up on his elbow to look at her better. "New style?," he then asked in a tired manner, meaning her appearance.

"Yeah, something like that.," Kylie replied. She reached the hedgehogs and knelt down next to the two similar ukes.

"Should you be here?," Shadow asked, looking over to the big mirror, that he knew was an one way window. "Don't worry about it. There isn't someone and the cameras are in a loop. Nobody's watching us.," Kylie soothed.

Shadow wasn't sure, if he was more upset, that she knew so much about this cell – or that he knew so less. What else was here, hidden from view and just waiting to harm them?

"Here." Kylie had opened the kit and got out an ointment. "It's for your burns. Will you let me treat it?," she asked Scourge, the only one, who couldn't – or better wouldn't – rely on his seme's help with that.

Scourge just moved slowly to sit up and allow Kylie access to his neck. The doctor gently examined the wound first, before getting some of the ointment on her fingertips and then she applied it on the red places. "It'll help the burning to cease.," she explained, while she was at it.

All beings in the room, including Silver, who jerked awake from it, jumped upon hearing a loud screech and then a booming voice, that hurt their eardrums, "Er...Kylie? When I said 'ten minutes', I meant ten minutes from...well, when I said it. So, er...hurry up?," a young male voice said.

Kylie looked, as if she would like to facepalm, if she hadn't her hands full and full with ointment. "Excuse me for a second." She stood up, marched over to the one way window and stood in the middle of it. "Turn the volume up more, why don't you? Please inform the whole Island about it, I beg of you!," she hissed.

The voice came again, still with the same volume. "Relax, the room is absolutely soundproof. You know, to mute possible screams and such."

Kylie could see the hedgehogs jerk upon hearing that in the reflection of the current mirror. "John, literally NO ONE in this room wanted to hear about that. Now turn it down, if you have to speak! You of all people should know, that hedgehogs have a sensitive hearing!"

"Why should I- oh." It was quiet for a little while, before the voice came again, in a much more comfortable volume. "Sorry. I'm still practicing this... caring... empathy... sympathy... thing."

Kylie sighed. "It's okay. Just...find a way to fool the cameras – and give me more time, I told you it's a delicate topic."

"Why? Just tell them-" "JOHN!," Kylie shouted. "Go. To work! And mute the microphone or I'll make SURE, that it doesn't work anymore!" "Alright, alright. Seriously.," John complained and it got silent.

Kylie sighed and returned to continue Scourge's treatment. "Who was this?," he asked the question everyone wanted to ask. "That was...John. He's going to help us." "This nut job? Wasn't there a better one?," Scourge muttered. "No. Listen, it isn't ideal and right now he only helps my oncoming migraine, but he's our only option here..."

"You should be careful.," a voice interrupted her, that made Scourge go stiff and the others turn around to the golden hedgehog, who hadn't spoken in a while.

"What do you mean?," Kylie asked friendly. Fleetway kept looking away, while he answered, "You're close...to his neck."

Kylie needed a moment to understand, what he meant. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to Scourge. Perringten lied about this chip.," she smiled soothingly.

"He did?," Mephiles asked, worried still, while Scourge was tempted a little to turn around to the golden seme. "Yeah. He had to invent this lie, after Sonic had ripped the collars off the other two. He was so shocked, that he even allowed me to cut through Sonic's as well. So, no worries, it was just a trick."

She finished applying the ointment. "Thankfully you didn't have to endure the shocking too long, like Silver, so you should be fine with a little more rest.," she explained.

Though Scourge couldn't see it, he had the feeling, that Fleetway behind him was relieved to hear that.

He just nodded and laid down again, while Kylie shifted a little and turned to Sonic. "Do you mind?," she asked. "Go ahead." Sonic let himself down on the mattress to allow her full access to his body. Shadow watched Kylie's every move, but the doctor didn't let that make her nervous.

She examined his neck and his hands. "Your neck isn't that bad, but your hands need to get wrapped, or the wounds on them might get infected.," she explained, while searching for an antiseptic and something to apply it.

"What were you and this John talking about, by the way? What is this 'sensitive topic' you mentioned?," Sonic inquired. "Oh... well..." Kylie sighed, while she got out the needed items and went to work.

"It's...just...I'm leaving today. I will sneak on a ship, that's delivering goods to the Island...," Kylie started.

"...and leaving us behind, I presume.," Mephiles growled. He had never trusted this woman completely and her words weren't helping in that matter.

Kylie wasn't surprised and simply continued her doing. "No. Thanks to John, I now have the evidence I need, he hacked the cameras and collected six hours of video material, as well as a description of the way to this Island. I'll go with it to GUN and return hopefully tomorrow..."

"And you can't just...I don't know... FREE US BEFOREHAND!?," Fleetway snarled. "No, I can't.," Kylie stated simply. "You are Perringten's most valuable prisoners and John can't hide your absence forever. If he would notice, that you're gone, he would flee and hide – and erase every evidence of the Island's existence, including all of its prisoners. And before you ask, the ship I will sneak on is much too small to carry all hedgehogs here without sinking." Fleetway's breath hitched. He hadn't thought about this.

"So, either we flee and all ukes and semes here die – or we stay and they can all be saved? Well, easy choice. There's no way I'll sacrifice someone for my freedom.," Sonic said and everyone nodded in agreement. They followed their Alpha without knowing, that he was one. But right now, she didn't plan on telling them about it, her time was limited after all.

"There." She finished wrapping his hands and applying the ointment on his neck and threw the tube over to Mephiles, who caught it, a little surprised. "Apply it like I did with Sonic and Scourge, just don't take too much.," Kylie said, while wiping her fingers off on her lab coat and then searching again for something in the kit.

She pulled out a small paper bag, in that were for sure some pills. "Wait...was it you the whole time who was on the other side of this wall?," Shadow asked, recognizing the bag instantly.

Kylie stopped shortly, before she nodded. "...Yes. I was." "Why didn't you tell us? I thought, it was one of those assholes.," Scourge growled.

"I know. But...I didn't want to betray you. I knew, that Perringten planned to...to breed you. I didn't want to partake in that, but it would have been worse, if one of his men had been there.," she sighed.

Now, Shadow understood, why he had never found anything in the food, Kylie didn't mix anything in it. And the picture of the remote hadn't been a threat, but a warning. Just a warning for them to behave themselves, so they wouldn't be shocked. She had always meant the best for them.

"It's okay.," Sonic soothed his friend and smiled at her. Kylie grinned back and gave him the bag. "In here are some painkillers, you're gonna need them, believe me. It's best you take them, when you feel pain, but never more than two at once, okay? Besides, you shouldn't try to move very much in the next few days and rest." Sonic sighed and nodded. That was a bad timing, considering, that they would hopefully break out soon, but it couldn't be helped.

"I forgot the water.," Kylie noticed and was about to stand up, when the usual sound of the tray being let down – that startled Kylie, as she had never heard the sound before, while being in the cell – sounded behind her and she turned around to see it, with a single plastic bottle with water on it.

"...Thanks, John...," Kylie said, slightly surprised, stood up, went to fetch it and opened it for Sonic, while Shadow got out two of the pink pills, as the blue hero wasn't quite capable of both with his bandaged hands. With his seme's help, Sonic managed to drink the two pills down.

Kylie looked over to Mephiles, who had some trouble with applying the ointment, as Silver was absolutely ticklish and giggling and shaking, giving his seme a hard time. "When Mephiles is done, I'll be going...," Kylie started.

"What is his last name?," Shadow suddenly asked, interrupting her. Everyone looked at him confused, but Shadow kept staring in Kylie's eyes. "What do you mean by that?," she asked. "This 'John'. You never said his last name. Why?"

When he learned one thing from living together with humans, then, that they were close to obsessed with their names. No matter if first name, last name or the at times ridiculously long string of middle names – they always stated their full name for an introduction (at least, if they were grown ups and tried to appear sophisticated) and they could go CRAZY, if you pronounced even one letter wrong.

So, Kylie had to know this John's last name and he would be damned, if she didn't keep quiet about it for a reason.

Kylie noticed, that now all eyes were on her and sighed. "His name...is John Perringten.," she finally admitted.

It grew silent. "You...trust...someone of this monster's FAMILY!?," Shadow hissed, while Sonic looked, as if he thought about how to get rid of the water coming from the foreign human, that he had already drunk.

"Are you crazy, or something!? Or did this guy turn you against us!?," Scourge shouted, while Fleetway growled.

And Mephiles looked ready to kill her with Silver, who didn't know, who Perringten was, looking confused around.

Kylie sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in slight helplessness. "Guys, look-" "What happened to your face?," Sonic interrupted her.

Kylie looked up and noticed the mortified looks of her friends. She touched her face and noticed, that she had flipped back the hair she had hung in front of her face before.

Slowly, she turned around to the current mirror and winced, when she saw her mirror image. Above her left brow was a bruise with a gash going across it. She could cover it with a hand, she guessed, but it looked definitely bad. She took off her scarf and sighed. Although the tip of Perringten's stick hadn't been that large, it had left a bigger bruise, coloring an almost round part of her throat blue-purple. Swallowing would hurt for a while, she presumed.

She sighed once more and turned around again. "Did this John do this to you!?," Sonic hissed angrily.

Kylie shook her head. "No. It had been his father. John is Perringten's son. He saved me, actually. Without him, he would have killed me.," she admitted, still a little shaken up from the abuse.

"Why should he do this? Aren't you important for him, or something like that?," Scourge asked. "No. He...found out what I did." "What you did?," Sonic repeated, his tone urging her to explain. Kylie looked away. "Before...they brought you to those rooms...I mixed contraceptives in your food.," she admitted.

The following speechless silence was interrupted by a low growl. Kylie jumped and turned around to Fleetway, who approached her, obviously ready to attack. "YOU are responsible for MY pups' death!?," he seethed.

Kylie gulped. She knew, that semes were protective over their pups, but he took it to new extremes, considering, that Scourge hadn't been pregnant for even 24 hours.

Sonic already moved to protect Kylie, but Scourge beat him to it. Faster, than anyone would have thought, he was in Fleetway's face, glaring chainsaws at him with an intensity, that let the light male back off.

"Listen here, in the first place, it have been MY pups because it would have been MY body, that would have carried those little parasites and if you DARE one more time to act, as if you have ANY right on MY body, I will make sure PERSONALLY, that your plans on family will end PERMANENTLY. Did I make myself CLEAR!?," he seethed. Even though he had spoken calmly and only raised his voice now and then to stress certain words, a chill went through the room, as its temperature seemed to have dropped. Fleetway just nodded and retreated in his corner.

Kylie, who noticed, how much this had weakened the green male, grabbed him gently and brought him back in a lying position so he wouldn't strain himself any longer.

"Thank you.," she smiled at him. "No, I should thank you. Thanks to you I'm not pregnant." Scourge showed her a rare smile. "Don't thank me. Because of this contraceptive, Fleetway did this to you four times. Without it, he would have stopped after the first time, I think.," Kylie replied regretfully.

"Ugh, you know of this?" Scourge grimaced, but didn't blame her. It wasn't her fault and she had only tried to help.

"I was forced to watch the presentation about the results of the experiment.," Kylie mumbled bitterly.

"Then you know, what they did to us? How did they do this?," Shadow asked, using the opportunity to fill some gaps he definitely had about this matter. "They used a drug, that you could inhale..."

"But we're immune to drugs..., right?" Sonic became worried. His body was betraying him a lot lately...

Before Kylie could answer, John interrupted again. "Not against those. They're made out of your blood. Had been my idea.," he added proudly. Kylie sighed. Couldn't he simply shut up?

Shadow growled, stood up and and went in front of the window, standing in its middle. "Human, come out! I want to talk to you in person!," he shouted.

Some minutes passed, before the cell door Kylie had come through opened again and a young man with brown hair and eyes appeared, though letting the glass wall between them. "There, happy?," he asked.

"You don't look like your father.," Fleetway stated. He was right. Only the sharp form of his face was like his father's, otherwise, he had nothing in common with him and you only noticed it, when you kept the image of this monster in your mind fresh, which the semes did on instinct, to never forget it.

"Oh, please, say more sweet things!," the young man mocked. "Children don't always look like both their parents. It's my luck, that I look like my mother, this way I have even less with him in common."

"And yet you invented this drug to get us to mate.," Mephiles growled. "THAT you got wrong. I only had the idea, I had nothing to do with the creation of the drug you had.," John replied coolly. "How could such a sicko like this Perringten-guy even have a son?," Fleetway hissed.

"Believe me, nobody's more surprised, that I'm existing, than me. I didn't even know I had a father, until my mother died."

Noticing, that he started a sensitive topic for him, John locked eyes with Shadow who had returned to Sonic by now.

"So? What do you want?," he asked. "Why are you helping us? Standing up against your own flesh and blood?" "Oh, _please_ , don't give me that. I owe him _nothing_. Though, I admit it, without you hedgehogs, I would still be his mindless slave."

"Is that so?" Shadow raised a brow. John threw him a glare, his eyes suddenly cold. "Don't flatter yourself. I wasn't talking about you." He waved uncaringly. "Semes are all the same, brutal beasts, when you drive them in the corner." He looked at Shadow. "Weren't you the one, who killed about twenty ukes and semes in about two minutes on Paradise?," he asked amused. Shadow gritted his teeth, growling. "No, what fascinated me were you three ukes.," John continued.

Sonic, Scourge and Silver exchanged a glance. "Why us?," Sonic asked. "Well, before Scourge came to paradise, I thought all ukes simply love sex and being pregnant and can't get enough of both."

He shrugged, not noticing the flustered ukes – minus the once again clueless Silver – and Kylie and the angry semes. "Before I met Silver, I didn't even know, that you can actually talk!," John continued. The silver male didn't seem to remember that, he was obviously confused.

"But you, Sonic, really nailed it! I was one of those two, who climbed up your cave to distract you enough for the other two to sedate you and – boy, I never expected to be ever scared of an uke! Seriously, I swear the others shit themselves! They never saw such a scary hedgehog! And you weren't even trying to fight, you protected Shadow instead!" John was for some reason nearly ecstatic and Kylie hoped, that his voice wasn't heard by anyone outside.

Shadow looked surprised at Sonic, when he heard John's last sentence. Sonic had told him, that he had gotten an overdose, because he had wanted to protect him, but hearing this now...made the image even more touching, than before.

"I am a hero. Protecting people is my job.," Sonic said, but Shadow noticed, that he was guarded, careful not to mention his true feelings towards the foreign human.

John's expression fell upon hearing that. "Yeah, right, a hero.," he growled. "That's the one thing I seriously don't like about you. _Hero_." He spat the word with hatred. "It was quite a struggle to get you, you know?," he muttered.

Sonic's ears twitched. "What do you mean?," he asked. Perringten had said the same in the limousine...

"What do you think? Unlike with the other hedgehogs, we couldn't just fake your death or simply kidnap you, that would raise too many questions. And it wasn't like you were a homeless like Silver, who nobody misses, or a criminal like Scourge, who you can practically buy from the police station..."

"I'm so trusting the government right now with keeping me safe.," Scourge growled. "Anyway, to get you, my father had to use some tricks. That's why he even worked together with this Eggman."

Sonic's jaw dropped. "He did what?," he asked. "What do you think, where he did get the chemicals to test your blood from?"

"He did already know, that I'm this...uke-thing?" "Yeah, he did. And you being an uke made things much easier for him."

"Easier?," Sonic asked. "Yeah. It was pretty easy. He simply had to drug you secretly again and again to cause the 'typical' symptoms a nervous uke would show, like less appetite, sleep problems, fear, emotionalism. He knew, that one of your friends would look the matter up and come to the conclusion, that you would need to go to the uke institute – that doesn't exist. As a side effect, he weakened the trust of the people, who admired you, so your disappearance would be covered with something like 'He was scared and ran away for good'."

Sonic felt a headache coming, while he tried to process all this. "But that doesn't make sense! Shouldn't I have noticed that I was drugged? Or shouldn't Tails find some traces of it in my blood?," he asked.

John chuckled. "But you noticed the drugging, you just didn't know it. That's why my father needed this Eggman, he needed an expert for building robots. A robot as tiny as a mosquito, to be precise."

The eyes of everyone widened. "As it's summer, you didn't see the artificial insect among the million real ones, how it stole some of your blood, mixed a drug in it and put it the same way back in your body. As Eggman had all the time full control, he knew, when to stop with the injections, so your brother wouldn't find anything."

John grinned. Somewhere during his speech, he had wanted to actually hurt Sonic verbally, see him unsettled, maybe scared, or angry.

Now he looked at the visibly shocked hedgehog, being sure, that he needed only a little bit more information to break, which he would like to see.

The hero, breaking down.

With near sadistic glee, he continued. "After that, he only needed to create some temporary clones, that would dissolve after a while, all of them semes, that flirted with you to make you crack. Pretty easy, as I said. Oh, and I'm sure Kylie hasn't told you yet – you're even now drugged, in this cell. It's mixed with the air and only has an effect on you. Before, it was given to you through your collar, in case you're wonder-" John interrupted himself, when Sonic

...started laughing.

Everyone blinked at the hedgehog, who held his stomach, laughing so much, that his eyes started to water and that he fell backwards on the mattress.

John had no idea, just what was wrong now. He had expected him to get mad, or to start crying... Well, he _did_ shed tears now, but for completely different reasons...

Shadow instead looked at Kylie. "Did this happen because of your medicine!?," he hissed. "Of course not, I always-"

"It's okay, Shads, I'm fine, really.," Sonic wheezed, in his lungs no air anymore, thanks to his laughter.

He raised his hand and Shadow immediately grabbed it to pull him in a sitting position again. Sonic was still chuckling and massaging his hurting sides, a smile still on his face. He looked up and over to the nearly paralyzed John and chuckled, now upon seeing his dumbfounded face.

"I-I don't get the joke, I think...," the young man stuttered, trying and failing to find his composure again.

Sonic grinned. "I'm not laughing because I heard something funny, I'm simply relieved.," he explained. "Why?" John was even more confused now.

"Since this whole uke-mess started, I thought I was going crazy, that my body was failing me..." He trailed off with a small frown for a minute, before his smile returned. "But it was all simply set up! Thanks for telling me that, really. You're alright."

The young man's eyes widened and his jaw fell. And he stayed like that for about three minutes.

"I think...you destroyed his brain.," Scourge said finally. "No, he's simply overwhelmed. Just let him process that.," Sonic replied.

Kylie couldn't help herself and agree, she had figured by now, even though she knew little about his past, that he was simply a lost child, trying to do good. He wasn't evil, just confused. And getting thanks from an uke, who he had helped to torture, was definitely too much for him to take at once.

She asked herself, if Sonic had ever encountered such a person before to know this, or if he simply looked through his tough facade. Either way, she was impressed from his ability to reach even such a disturbed soul.

John finally snapped out of his stupor. In order to try and act normal, he looked at the watch on his wrist.

"We...er...should start to wrap it up...I managed to buy us some more time, but it will run out soon. So...er...hurry up." He turned around to leave the cell, but paused with one hand on the door.

He turned around halfway and looked at Shadow over his shoulder. "Was...this all you wanted to know?," he asked slowly. As their time was limited for now, Shadow nodded, making sure, that John saw it.

He turned around again, but stopped once more. "Sonic?," he mumbled, barely audible, before continuing, "I'm sorry. For all I did. I'll try my everything to free you, I swear it." And he left quickly the cell, before anyone could reply something, throwing the door shut behind him.

"Wow. Looks like you made a kind person out of an asshole.," Scourge commented. "He had been nice the whole time. He was simply confused, but not evil.," Sonic replied, still looking at the door, as if he could see John behind it.

"Still, he said, that he hated you.," Shadow growled, seeing it as an insult against himself. Sonic shook his head and looked at him, his eyes alone were enough to calm the seme down completely. "No, he hated _heroes_. And one thing I know for sure is, that those, who don't like heroes, are sometimes those, who need them the most. He's simply in need of someone, who appreciates, what he does. I doubt, that he had that in his past. But he's strong enough to change, I know it." Sonic smiled and relaxed with a sigh.

Kylie next to him, who had gathered her stuff, while they were talking, stood up with the kit in her hands. "I need to go now, too...," she started, when she got interrupted again by Shadow.

"When you go to GUN," he started with a serious face, that let Kylie – and everyone else in the room – listen. "don't go to just a random person. Ask for Rouge the Bat, she's my partner, and don't let anyone else take over the case – you don't know, if this person's trustworthy. But don't mention my name in public, tell her this and don't forget it: 'I forgot my kitten in the laundry'."

It grew silent. "Huh?," Kylie finally said. "Rouge is very distrusting, she won't just talk with you, but when you know our secret code, that I share with no one I don't trust completely, she will listen to you and know, what to do. The code and how it should be like was her idea, by the way.," he added, slightly embarrassed.

Kylie smiled. "I will remember that." She went to leave the cell, when Sonic held her back again. "Sorry, I know you're in a hurry and you will be busy back on dry land, but...if you have a little time, could you check on my brother, Miles Prower, also known as Tails? He has for sure figured out by now, that something's wrong and is worried beyond belief. Maybe you'll meet him at GUN even, he's a two-tailed fox with golden fur, you'll recognize him instantly. If not, he'll be in our home..., maybe." He gave her the address of the house they shared.

Kylie nodded. "I promise, I try to find him. Goodbye for now, I hope, I'll see you again soon."

"Be careful.," Sonic said seriously. "You too. Who knows, what Perringten has in store for you? John tries to make you seem too weak for further experiments, just make sure you're appearing as such. And be patient, I'll return as soon as I can." With a last reassuring smile, Kylie left the cell.

It was silent for a while, before Sonic's stomach decided to growl loudly. "Hehe...do you have something to eat, by chance?," he asked Shadow. "Yeah." Smiling, Shadow gave him the bowl of his breakfast and Sonic ate hungrily. Silver also asked Mephiles for something to eat, just Scourge stayed quiet. He was hungry, too, but not in the mood to beg the others for something to sate it.

He looked up, when he heard someone behind him, which could only be one person, as he saw the others from where he lay and the cell hadn't opened. He turned around and saw Fleetway with a bowl in his hands.

"Here. Thought you would be hungry.," he mumbled, not looking at him. "Thanks." Scourge sat up and took the offered bowl, Fleetway immediately returned in his corner after that.

"Er...should I have...separated them?," Shadow asked Sonic, they had watched the Gamma and his seme and Shadow didn't want his uke to get upset again.

"No need to.," Sonic replied. "Scourge can handle himself just fine. Let's just concentrate on waiting for Kylie. I'm sure she's back soon."

With that, the hedgehogs retreated in silence, each of them having their own amount of hope in the female and the human with the confused heart.

* * *

Don't know when I can upload the next chapter, I'm kinda busy.


	14. Kylie to the rescue!

There will be some new characters from here, just so you know!

* * *

 **14: Kylie to the rescue!**

"She's on her way now.," the girl mumbled. "Hm?," her sister asked. "Who's on the way?" "I don't know...just...she.," was the answer.

* * *

It had been pretty easy to get on the small ship, that brought the goods, in this case materials needed for research. The reason for the size of the ship was simple: a taller ship got easier detected and rather controlled, than a small one like this.

To get the crew to take her with them, she only had to show her face in the moonlight. John had decorated it and her neck with unhealthy looking lipstick-dots, covering skillfully her bruises with it, too. On the Island, there was a ward to treat the humans, but with illnesses they were sent on dry land to not risk, that the hedgehogs got ill as well.

Therefore not questioning anything, the men let her on board, kept their distance to her and made their way back to the haven they came from.

Kylie stood away from them and watched the dark ocean under the slightly lighter night sky. While they were sailing, with the constant motion of the waves as her companion, her thoughts drifted back to her preparations with John.

* * *

 _"Are you done finally?," Kylie asked impatiently, crossing her arms and tapping her fingers on her elbow._

 _"Hm...I guess so. Sorry for taking so long, but I need some voice samples from you. I can replace you quite good, but your voice is another story. Should my father call you here, I can give him an answer, that I put together out of the samples. Oh, by the way, I need your way of saying sir.," John replied, adjusting the microphone a little more, which either was necessary before every new sample, or a nervous habit the young man had developed by now. Kylie sighed, but went to say the requested word._

 _"It will go well, right?," she mumbled, while the other worked with the new sample. "Sure. You've got the disk and GUN isn't too far away from the haven, just a few hours with the bus. This'll be over before you know it."_

 _"Can't you...do this? I don't feel good with leaving them alone." Kylie looked over to the ukes. Sonic, Silver and Scourge were fast asleep with their semes watching them, Fleetway with the, by now normal, distance between him and the green uke._

 _"First: ow. Second: I can't. Unlike you, I don't have a reason to ever return to dry land. Besides, he doesn't trust me. He doesn't trust anyone, but me especially not. I'm a Perringten, after all.," John answered with a small grin, while he kept working. Kylie nodded in thought._

 _She jumped, when her telephone rang. She looked at it and then to John, who nodded to signal her, that it was safe to pick it up._

 _"Hello?," she asked. "Ah, Dr. Ellen! What took you so long?" Perringten sounded awfully cheerful. "I...er..." "Doesn't matter.," he interrupted her. "How long will it take the ukes to recover?"_

 _Kylie looked at the screen with the – from John modified to appear a little lower than in reality – vitals. "In...er...two to three days, from how it seems..." "What!? This long!? Can't you speed it up!?," Perringten snapped._

 _Kylie started to sweat – what should she say!? She took a deep breath and said, "Sir, number 245 and 102 would most likely be cured by tomorrow, but 299 is a different topic. He's in a lot of pain and very weak, he-" "102 and 245 will be alright tomorrow?"_

 _Was today_ We interrupt Kylie all the time _-day, or something like that?_

" _Yes, sir." "Brilliant! Did they have their dinner yet?" "N-" "Doesn't matter, I'll send you something from one of my labs, make sure they take it!" And he hung up. Kylie's brow furrowed, while she hung up as well. "He's sending something to me for Silver and Scourge..."_

 _She got interrupted again by a knock on the door. John quickly hid in a dark corner, while Kylie opened the door a little to reveal a young man, who was out of breath. This was fast, she had to admit it._

 _"H-here. I-I order you some soup for them." He gave her a small bottle and ran away._

 _Kylie closed the door again and looked at the label on the bottle out of brown glass, that contained quite a bit of small, most likely pink pills. The label only had a number on it._

 _"Show me." John took the bottle, before she could react, looked at the label, too and went to his computer. "Let's see what this is.," he mumbled and typed the number in._

 _"And if somebody notices?," Kylie asked, meaning him looking for information about the stuff she just got._

 _"Oh please, I'm snooping around on this Island for a while now and nobody ever noticed ANYTHING!," John replied with a shrug, just when he got a result._

 _In this second, he also got a hit in the head from Kylie. "Hey, what the-!?," he started to complain. "I don't like how you shrug. Now let me see it, I barely have time anymore!," the woman hissed, shoved him aside and started to read the information about the contents of the bottle next to her._

 _Her eyes widened. "Impossible...," she whispered, suddenly paling. "What!? What's wrong!?," John asked._

 _"He wants to poison them!," Kylie exclaimed, her eyes glued to the monitor. "You think so?" "I know so! The ingredients of these pills cause vomiting, dizzy spells or stomach pain, in larger doses heart problems and in worst cases even death! Why should he do this to them!?"_

 _"It's another way to control them, I guess. You know, this 'obey and you get the antidote'-stuff. Let me see, if there is one..." John went to the computer, typed a little and then got the result. "There is really one. Well, with that, he would control seme_ and _uke effortlessly. That's how my father ticks. He doesn't underestimate them, he can guess, that they'll 'find out' about the non-existing chips in the ukes' necks," John said. Kylie gnawed her lip. "And now? What should I do?," she mumbled._

 _"You mean: what should WE do? Don't worry, I have an idea. But I need some more voice samples from you."_

* * *

Until now, Kylie had no idea just what he planned, but she trusted him. Or...well, she trusted Sonic's judgment. He liked the young man, she had noticed that much and as he was an Alpha, he had to have a good sense for that, right?

Well, the Island was already too far away to return anyway, so she simply had to hope, that John knew, what he was doing.

Still, she really would like to know, why she had to say, "I love using semes for my own personal pleasure".

"I swear it, John, if anyone else hears those sentences and thinks this crap about me, you're done for!," Kylie hissed in her thoughts. She sighed and leaned against the railing of the ship. Now she could only wait for the ship to reach the haven.

* * *

Three pairs of ears flew up, when one of the cell doors opened, shortly after their dinners had come. Annoyed rolled eyes were the first things John saw, after he had slipped through the door and closed it.

He grinned, amused. "I'm also happy to see you again." "What do you want?," Shadow asked annoyed.

"Well..." John scratched the back of his neck, trying to think about a way to say this. He had thought about it beforehand...but his ideas of how to say this had simply stayed outside the cell, it seemed. His nervousness was getting to the semes and they were starting to get anxious.

"Er...can someone wake Scourge? I need to talk to him...," John asked, deciding to simply explain his plan – and why it was necessary...

The green uke sighed annoyed and rolled around to face the human. "What do you want?," he growled, annoyed.

Sonic and Silver behind him perked up also, the tension of their semes had woken them up, their instincts telling them to stay awake in case they needed to flee...not, that they could, but that didn't concern their instincts.

"My father has found a new way to torture you." John didn't try to make it seem less threatening than it was – but maybe he should have, judging by the nervous glances of Silver and aggressive growls of the others.

"Okay, it's like that, he wanted Kylie to give you and Silver a poison with your dinners – don't worry, she didn't.," he quickly added, although the two ukes didn't seem to believe that for a second. "This stuff would make you feel pain and could even lead to death in higher doses." The eyes of everyone widened.

"Why should he do that?," Sonic asked, confused. "It's a new way to try and control you. He knows, that you'll find out about the non-existing chips and therefore, he uses this method to keep you contained."

"Let me guess, it's something like 'Obey and you get the antidote', right?," Scourge growled. John nodded. "What an asshole. Even I have more class than that!," the green hedgehog growled.

"Congrats, you're better than my father. Like...everyone else in the world." John shook his head and focused on the current problem. "Anyway, I managed to manipulate your vitals so he'll think in a while, that you're in severe pain and, well, ready to do everything to make it stop."

"Why me?," Scourge asked, even more annoyed, but not scared, as John had feared it already. "Well, we all can imagine, what he'll want from you and as you and your seme-" "He. Isn't. MY. Seme!," Scourge hissed, not seeing the brief flash of hurt on Fleetway's face, before it became neutral again.

"Okay, okay.," John quickly soothed. "Anyway, there is already a video from...er...last time. So, when he forces you into the same room to do what he wants, without drugs, I can simply replace the live stream of the camera with the video."

"Won't he get suspicious, if he sees the exact same?," Scourge frowned, not happy with the idea at all.

"Not, if I'll make some cuts here and there. Besides, he doesn't care about WHAT you do, or how you do it, for him only counts, that you do, what he wants. He won't even watch it, I guess, he just cares for the results."

"And what about Silver? Won't he expect him to be in the same condition?" Mephiles was very worried about what Perringten (the older, but in a way also the younger one) had in store for his uke.

"Don't worry, Kylie told my father already a lie about that...something really complicated, don't remember it.," John shrugged.

In reality, Kylie, or better her voice, had explained, that Silver as a Beta was immune to the poison. The woman herself had had this idea – and had happily given him the necessary voice samples for this – and she had asked John not to tell the hedgehogs about the hierarchy just yet, they had enough going on already. John didn't really understand this, but he had learned not to fight with Kylie. Somehow, he lost all of those fights.

"Why does he leave Sonic out of this? Is he planning something else?," Shadow asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Kylie managed to convince him, that Sonic isn't in the condition to get experimented on just yet. My father bought it without a problem. Just pretend to sleep, when he comes." "He'll come here?," Scourge asked. "Sure. He wants to see the results of his new idea. And now I have a question: how good are your acting skills?," he asked, looking at the confused Scourge and Fleetway.

* * *

"She will soon be there.," she informed. "So? Should we do something?," another figure asked, for the girl, who had spoken, nothing but a mere shadow right now. "No. She's too important.," the girl, who was the middle of all their attention right now, said and shook her head.

* * *

It was early in the morning, when Kylie finally reached the haven. Without a word to the men, who ignored her anyway, she descended the ship and made her way out of the haven.

She took out the map, printed out by John and hidden easily in her pocket, that showed her the way to the GUN-headquarter. She stood under a streetlight, so she could read it and frowned. She would need to take a few buses – she didn't have a driver's license – and that would take her about four hours.

But Sonic's house, also marked on her map, wasn't that far away, it would delay her mission only for an hour, maybe two. And putting a child's mind at ease (as much as it was possible in such a situation), was worth it.

Having decided, Kylie made her way over to the bus stop, just to see on the plan, that she would need to wait about two hours for the first bus to come. This had to be the slowest rescuing mission ever.

* * *

"I'm going to kill him.," Scourge thought to himself, while glaring at the one way window, behind that was for sure John.

Just because this Perringten had had the idea to poison him, he now had to play 'wounded animal', so the human would believe it. All in all, it wasn't a big deal – he had fled from a lot of police men by playing (injured) possum – but sadly, it wouldn't be convincing, if Fleetway didn't act as 'worried seme'. And therefore, he had to be close to him. It was a little comforting, that Sonic had threatened to kill Fleetway, should he dare to touch Scourge longer or lower than necessary. He was sure, that the light seme would listen to that, judging by how fast he had nodded as an answer to Sonic's threat.

"The signal.," Fleetway said, meaning a sharp single knock against the glass, that separated human and mobians, ripping him out of his thoughts. It meant, that Perringten would soon appear to see the writhing hedgehog.

Scourge rolled his eyes, laid on his side, encircled his middle, as if he was hurting there and started to whimper and to tremble, with Fleetway bent over him. He pulled a blanket over him, making it look, as if he was trying to help him, while at the same time hiding every suspicious movement. Other than that, he pretended to try and soothe the other, the blanket giving him an excuse why they didn't have physical contact.

The other two semes had retreated in a corner with their ukes wrapped in blankets in their arms. It looked, as if they feared, that Scourge was ill and their ukes could get infected, too. The truth was, that the two dark semes held their 'sleeping' loves tightly in this position, restraining their movements, so they wouldn't try to help Scourge and maybe blow everything. Of course they knew, that it was just a show – but their instincts reacted to Scourge's convincing sounds of distress and they wanted nothing more than to run to him and help him.

Especially Shadow had to hold Sonic so tight he had barely enough slack to breathe. His protective nature was going crazy, but Shadow's, too and therefore, he held the uke in place.

Just a minute after Scourge had started his act, the door opposite of Fleetway's usual corner opened and a grinning Perringten entered. His dark eyes watched the writhing Scourge with a satisfied grin.

"You!" Fleetway jumped up and glared at the human. "What have you done to Scourge!?," he hissed, tears in the corners of his eyes, the red spirals in them glowing.

"Me? Oh, I have done nothing." Perringten faked innocence – it wouldn't have been convincing, even if they hadn't known the truth. "Seems, like 102 is in need of proper care. I could provide some medicine...on a price, of course."

"What do you want?," the seme asked, he managed to bring some desperation in his voice.

"Just what do you think? I finally want some of you carrying. Obey and I won't be forced to go to those extremes with the others.," he added with a glare towards the other two semes, who returned it with – absolutely not faked – hateful expressions, while bringing their ukes closer protectively. Shadow did this mostly to mute the growls, that started to come out of Sonic's throat.

Perringten smirked and looked back at the seemingly out of despair trembling Fleetway. "Now, what should it be? Obeying or dying?," the human asked. Fleetway managed to flinch, as if the pure mental picture was painful, to look, as if he actually thought about it and then to nod. "Fine.," he growled, sounding disgusted of himself.

Perringten smirked, victorious. "Good. Follow me." The glass wall moved up and he turned around to go.

Fleetway growled, loud enough for Perringten to hear it, bent down and picked Scourge up, who only accepted this because it had to look, as if he was in too much pain to move. The seme carried him out of the cell, that closed shortly after him.

The two remaining semes relaxed, once the door was closed and allowed their ukes to move now, but neither Sonic nor Silver seemed in the mood for it. "Scourge is fine, right?," Silver asked Mephiles weakly, tears in his eyes. "Of course, he was just playing a game.," the dark seme soothed, as if he was talking with a little child, but as it put the young uke at ease, he didn't mind it all too much. He halfway expected the uke to ask the same about Kylie, too, knowing how close they apparently were, but strangely, he didn't, he just kept looking to the door, willing Scourge to return. It seemed, like the woman wasn't that important after all.

Sonic next to the pair nuzzled closer to Shadow, taking in his scent, that had a soothing effect on him for some reason. "I hope, he's alright.," he mumbled. "Who? Scourge?," Shadow asked. "Of course.," Sonic replied, a little annoyed, that Shadow had to ask. "He will be. He's been always a tough opponent." "He's a criminal?," Sonic asked, although he didn't seem too interested in the matter.

"Yes. Didn't you hear John telling us, where he came from?," Shadow replied, a little worried, if Sonic maybe WAS actually too weak or in too much pain to actually remember. "Of course I heard that, but people get sometimes arrested for no reason, they are just in the wrong place to the wrong time."

"Scourge wasn't. He's in the business for years now.," Shadow explained. Not wanting to press the matter further, Sonic shifted his weight a little and sighed. "Could you bring me my pills? I think, I need them now.," he asked.

"Of course!" Shadow gently placed Sonic down on the soft floor and went into the opposite corner to take out the carefully hidden medicine and water bottle. He brought both back to Sonic and helped him to drink down two pills.

"Thanks." Sonic gave him a soft smile, that made Shadow blush a little. "Er...may I take a look at your hands?," he changed the topic. "Sure." Willingly, Sonic showed him his hands and allowed him to take off the bandages. Carefully, Shadow looked at the wounds.

"They're healing, that's good, but we should change their bandages, so they don't get infected.," he said, already getting up to ask John for the first aid-kit, hoping, that he was there, when Sonic held him back. "Don't! Let him focus on Scourge and Fleetway for now!" "But-" "Please. I can wait, but Scourge needs his help now."

Shadow was a little speechless, seeing, that Sonic was actually looking...vulnerable, when saying that. Was it the drugs he inhaled? Or something else? He wasn't keen on seeing his love like this any longer, that's why Shadow agreed with his plea and sat down next to him. "Do you want to rest a little? It would help the pills to take effect.," he suggested gently. "I don't think I can sleep right now.," Sonic mumbled, looking over to the door, like Silver wanting it to open and reveal Scourge.

* * *

The green uke jumped out of Fleetway's arm, just when the dreaded metal door to the same room, in that they had been locked up together before, had closed.

"Thanks...I guess.," he mumbled, thanking for being carried, but he spent much more time with brushing himself off than necessary.

"Alright, let's see, John said, he'd hide something here, with that we can make the fake convincing...," Fleetway murmured, deciding to ignore Scourge's behavior.

He searched the room, that hadn't changed a bit, pausing to look at the ripped out bathroom door. "What happened to that?," he asked, accidentally out loud.

"You destroyed it to get me. I hid there from you. Didn't stop you for long, the door I mean.," Scourge replied coldly.

Without Fleetway noticing it, he had moved as far away as possible from the other, leaning against the wall next to the door with his arms crossed. He seemed relaxed, but Fleetway knew him better. He was really anxious, fearing, that he attacked and raped him again. "No measly wood could stop a superior _seme_.," he added coldly, stressing the word _seme_ , as if it was a curse.

"I don't feel superior. I feel like a total loser.," Fleetway replied, picking up the door and weighing it a little in one hand, noticing how heavy it was, before letting it slide down soundlessly. One side of it smelled like Scourge. Had he been buried under it? It had hurt, for sure...

Scourge frowned, watching him slip in his thoughts. "Why did you cry?," he asked. Golden ears snapped up. "What?," he replied, ripped out of his thoughts again. "Back in the cell. I know, how your fake tears look, those in your eyes were real. Why?"

"Don't know..." Fleetway scratched the back of his head, receiving an are-you-kidding-me-look from Scourge, who knew, that the other was simply trying to stall.

"Okay, I...just...guess, I realized back there...how much you mean to me. Guess, I took your act too seriously...believed it...to be real..." The golden seme shrugged, although a small blush crept on his cheeks.

Scourge looked at him incredulously. "Have I been that good as a victim, that you want to repeat it?," he asked coldly, as coldly as he could with the bile, that threatened to rise up his throat.

Fleetway flinched and looked at him with wide eyes. "W-what!? N-no, I-" "Let me get this straight, _Fleet._ ," he hissed, interrupting the other and speaking out the old nickname with so much malice you could _feel_ it.

"If you think, that we just go back to square one after all you did, you are sourly mistaken. Once we are off this Island, I don't want you to EVER be near me again, got it?," the uke hissed.

Fleetway stood nearly frozen solid, before he nodded slowly. Seeing that, Scourge rushed past him in the bathroom, picking the door up and slamming it shut, before running to the toilet and throwing up.

Neither saw the tears of the other, that streamed for the exact same reason.

* * *

An hour passed for the two hedgehogs in the room, until they got a signal from John, that they would soon be collected in again, so they had some pretending to do. Fleetway had found a pager, on that John had given them the message for them to hurry up and whipped cream under the bed.

"He's got to be kidding.," he mumbled, looking at the small container. "It's white and sticky. Now, go ahead, we don't have forever.," Scourge replied annoyed, but he kept his stare away from the other hedgehog.

Fleetway sighed and proceeded to spurt the stuff in his crotch, smearing it across his fur to make it look like sperm. He wiped some off on his belly and chest, making it look, as if they had a lot of 'fun'.

"Your turn.," he finally said and held the whipped cream out to Scourge. The green uke sighed now, too, climbed on the bed, got on his hands and knees and presented his rear to the heavily blushing Fleetway. "W-wha-!?," he stammered.

"Hurry up already, we don't have forever! I can't reach there!," Scourge seethed, although he had to fight down his own blush, glad, that the other didn't see his face in the position they were in. "Y-yes!," Fleetway quickly said and carefully spurted some of the white cream on his rear.

Scourge cringed. It was colder than he thought! And it felt nasty in his fur and on his skin... Oh, John would PAY!

"Sorry.," Fleetway mumbled, noticing the other's discomfort. "Forget it. Give me that.," Scourge growled, sat up on his knees, without sitting on his behind, and started to give himself some traces of what would be looking like sperm on his tummy and chest.

"We should lie on the bed like we did last time, John most likely didn't change that.," he then said, leaving it to Fleetway to hide the cream again and to crumble the pager and flush the pieces down the toilet, so it wouldn't go off again and blow their whole act.

He returned to Scourge, who lay now on his side, curled up in a near fetal position on the end of the bed. The whipped cream looked already so convincing, that he was tempted for a second to ask him, who that did to him. Thankfully, he didn't. "What...are you doing?," he asked instead. "Lying like I did before. Do the same, they'll come any minute now.," was the reply.

Fleetway suddenly had a giant lump in his throat, that made it difficult to breathe. Scourge looked so...lost and vulnerable like this. Was this how he had felt after...? He didn't even want to THINK about it. Poor Scourge. He swore to himself, that he would make it up to him. Somehow.

For now, he simply lay on his back next to Scourge, ready to close his eyes and fake sleep should the door open.

He gnawed his lip, trying to find something to say, to not think about this dreaded day, but 'Sorry' didn't even BEGIN to make it better.

He was saved out of is thoughts, when the door opened. They closed their eyes and opened them slowly, while the guards came in, pretending to just wake up. "Stand up.," one of the two men ordered.

Fleetway obeyed, while Scourge had to pretend to be still in pain and that he couldn't move because of it.

"Here.," The other man dropped a single white pill in Fleetway's hand. It was the antidote to the poison Scourge didn't take. They wanted him to give it to him now. And there were cameras, so he couldn't pretend this time.

Fleetway turned around to the uke. "Here... take this. It'll help.," he said to Scourge, who wasn't able to see, what was going on due to his act, that included scrunched up eyes.

To his surprise, Scourge opened his mouth and allowed him to give him the pill. After it was in, he quickly closed his mouth.

"Now, back in your cell.," was the next order. Fleetway carefully picked up Scourge and went to leave the room. They dripped some whipped cream on the floor during their journey, but nobody cared. The men were probably even content to see this, as it meant, that the mating had to be successful.

* * *

Sonic breathed a breath of relief, when the cell door opened and Fleetway and Scourge came in.

Scourge immediately jumped out of the other's arms and spit the carefully hidden pill in his hand. "Gross.," he mumbled, disgusted.

"Hey. Is everything alright?" Sonic was suddenly standing in front of Scourge, looking at him concerned. Shadow behind him blinked – just how did he get from his lap to there in less than a second, quite literally in the blink of his eye!?

"Yeah, I'm fine. Glad, that this stupid act is over.," Scourge shrugged. "And...what's that?" Sonic motioned to the stuff in his fur, fearing the worst already. "Whipped cream." Scourge looked disgusted, but didn't seem to mind that much – the alternative, if it had been real, was worse.

They looked up, when the usual tray came down – but this time with two bowls of water, some towels and a first-aid kit, without a doubt for Sonic.

"Don't think this makes anything up, this stuff is gross in the fur!," Scourge growled towards the one way window, but took one of the towels to clean himself, like Fleetway, the others looking away politely, Shadow busying himself with re-wrapping Sonic's hands after cleaning and disinfecting them.

After they were done, John started speaking through the speaker. "Sorry about that, it was the only thing I could think of. But looks like you get it out without a problem. Anyway, could you place the pill on the tray, too? I would like to know, what it was."

"Whatever." Scourge let the white pill fall on the tray, that moved up again. "Now, what?," Sonic asked, flexing his hands to see how good he could move them still.

"Well, tomorrow they will come and draw your blood, but other than that, they will most likely leave you alone today.," John explained.

It was silent for a little while, before John asked, "So...does anyone know a good game?" This promised to be a LONG day.

* * *

She has reached her destination." "How about a little more detail?," another person asked friendly, again nothing but a shadow for her. "She has traveled long.," was everything she said for a good while.

* * *

"Finally!" Kylie couldn't help herself and exclaim the word, when the little house at the edge of the city came into view after a good few hours of searching. It was the right address, she had found Sonic's home.

It was more modest, than she had thought, a house with two floors, most likely classy arranged, with the living room, kitchen, dining room and a big bathroom downstairs and the bedrooms with maybe a guest room and another bathroom upstairs. There seemed to be a backyard and she saw a garage attached to the house.

She frowned, when she reached the mailbox, that stood next to the entrance in the white wooden fence surrounding the property. On it were two names – Maurice the Hedgehog and Miles Prower.

 _Maurice_? Well, writing _Sonic_ on it wouldn't be smart, she presumed. As a hero, he got for sure fan mail, enough to fill a house to the roof, that had twice the size of the one, where he lived in.

But the real reason for this had to be the other kind of mail a popular person like the hero and his young sidekick got.

Threats.

Even a person, who did nothing but good, was hated, when he or she got popular. It was ridiculous, but true.

Sonic most likely wanted to spare his brother the hatred, that's why they used their real names, that only few people knew. She could imagine that much, as in all articles she read so far about the blue hedgehog, he had never been called _Maurice_. And when she remembered it right, his brother, when he was mentioned, was always called Tails. In other words, nobody knew, what famous people actually lived here.

She looked up from the mailbox and across the path leading to the door and raised a brow in worry. The door had been ripped out. This wasn't a good sign.

She went to the house and saw, that the door had been ripped out from the inside, judging by the way it lay on the floor of the small veranda.

"Hello?," Kylie called in, without getting an answer, which wasn't all too surprising. She inspected the door and the hallway behind it. A thin layer of polls was on the wood of the door and on the floor behind it, the door had had to lie like that for a while now.

Kylie returned to the mailbox. Knowing it was indiscreet, she opened it – and a flood of letters fell to the ground. The woman knelt down and picked the envelopes up, trying to find a stamp with the date of delivery. She found such postmarks on some, the latest one telling her, that since at least seven days nobody had been looking in this box, beside the postman. She gathered all the letters and put them back in the mailbox before closing it.

Kylie went back to the veranda, stepped over the door and entered the house. She frowned, when she noticed the lack of furniture. Either Sonic and Tails ate on the floor, cooked never and were used to play board games to pass the time, or someone had stolen their table, chairs, kitchen equipment, couch, couch table, television and game consoles. But the most important question was: where was the kid, that lived here?

"Hello? Tails?," she called and got startled by a fox – a feral one, that had made a nest out of a newspaper under the stairs leading to the top floor and shot out, when he had heard her.

"Well, I'm getting closer.," Kylie thought. Maybe Tails was hiding somewhere? Maybe he was even caught in a depression? According to Sonic, he had figured out, that something was wrong, perhaps the lack of information – she was sure, that Perringten didn't leave much trace, if anything – had caused a breakdown. Or maybe he went to a friend for help and left at least a note, in case Sonic returned? It was worth a shot.

She carefully ascended the stairs, noticing many dirty footprints going up and down the stairs, forming new layers of mud and dust on the wood of the steps.

She reached the top floor. "Tails? If you are there, please show yourself! Sonic sent me, he's worried!" Kylie had to admit eventually, that the fox wasn't there and the only ones she alerted with her shouts were animals, who had started to live in the house and – if she stayed here much longer – burglars looking for anything to steal. Not that there was much left, as she confirmed with a quick check in every room, not even the beds had been left behind.

"As she didn't find a note, she descended the stairs again. Seemed like she had to try and find him at GUN...

Her head snapped up, when she heard something. It didn't sound like an animal, or a typical sound an abandoned house would make. She frowned and decided to check this. She walked around the stair case and was eventually met with two more doors she hadn't seen at first, one in front of her and one on her left. Right, the backyard and the garage! She had forgotten about them.

She opened the door in front of her and really, there was a garden. Wild, but not enough to look ugly, it was untamed beauty. Still, besides an army of animals, who had started to live there, there was nobody in sight and she closed the door again.

Kylie jumped, when she heard a sound from the other door, the same as before. "Hello?," she called and it grew silent again.

Not hesitating, Kylie opened the door and was met with a surprisingly spacious garage in that stood a plane with two seats. It seemed to be in absolutely great shape, but why did nobody steal it?

The answer came immediately – suddenly, everything inside the garage, the plane, the tools, the spare parts in their cartons and even the dust in the corners and the spiderwebs under the ceiling...started floating.

Kylie just stood in the door frame, her jaw dropped. What was happening here? "Tails? Tails, is that you? Listen, I know, you're afraid, but I don't want to hurt you! Sonic sent me!," she shouted. At once, everything stopped floating and landed in their old places. "Er... hello?," Kylie called again.

The wall opposite of her moved a little, revealing another small room, so light in comparison with the dimly lit garage, that Kylie had to look away from it. "Y-you kn-know, where Sonic is?," a small voice asked suddenly. The woman frowned. Was it her imagination – or did the voice have a creak in it? She looked over to the secret room and saw a small figure halfway hidden behind the frame of the secret door – and it wasn't a fox.

Kylie knew too much about Sonic and his enemy Dr. Eggman to not recognize the little robot, that you could easily confuse with a child in a black devil costume (minus the tail).

He was painted completely black, wore red boots and white gloves and had a violet shape on his forehead, in the middle of the two horn-like structures left and right of his head. He wore a belt with the letter "M" on it. As far as she knew, he always had a jet pack and a bag, but he didn't have both with him. His green eyes were – ironically enough – full with tears.

Kylie raised a brow. Looking closer at him, she noticed that he was...well, damaged... or injured. Whatever you called it, when talking about a robot.

"You are one of Eggman's robots, right?," she asked, not sure, what else to say. Bokkun flinched, as if she had shouted, but nodded eventually.

"What are you doing here?," Kylie asked further. More tears sprung in the green eyes. "Th-the doctor...he- the evil man! He- boom! And...and then kaboom!," he sobbed, bringing his fists up and rubbing his eyes like a little child.

"Er...well... do you know where Tails is?," Kylie asked, not really keen on trying to understand him.

"H-he...the...the other bad man..." And more tears ran down the cheeks of the robot, that could be her only clue to find Tails. Judging by his reaction, she wouldn't find him at GUN – and he was most likely not safe. But how should she get him to talk? All he had done until now, was crying like a child!

...A child? Well, Kylie was a mother, getting her own kids to talk during all kinds of emotional fits, was easy. How difficult could it be to handle a robot child?

She went on her knees on the cold floor. "Aww, it's okay. Come here, little one, I'll protect you. Just tell me what happened.," she cooed, very gently, opening her arms for the little robot.

It worked – bawling, Bokkun jumped in her arms, crying his...robotic... heart out. Kylie gently stroke his cold metal head and whispered soothing nothings – as he didn't seem to have ears, she simply talked to the air.

After a while, Bokkun had calmed down and she sat the robot down in front of her. "Now, tell me, what happened?," she asked gently.

New tears gathered in the green eyes and for a second, she feared he would cry again, but thankfully, he started to talk, although shakily and with occasional tears running down his cheeks.

"D-Dr. Eggman, he-he wanted Sonic and then the mean man came. Perry, or so..." Kylie just nodded, not wanting to interrupt him – when she had done this with young Alex, he had been too angry at her for that to continue. "He said he'll help, but when they got Sonic, Perry sh-shot Dr. Eggman!" Bokkun sobbed again. "And then, everything just went kaboom!," he continued.

Kylie watched the crying robot. As he had the psyche of a child, seeing his creator, his...father, she presumed he was for the little one, die, had to be a severe shock. And it definitely was so like Perringten to get rid of all evidence by causing an explosion.

"What happened next?," she asked, trying not to force him too much. "I...I got out...a-and then, th-there was T-Tails...and Knuckles and Amy. They came with the plane, I was so scared, I crawled in it and hid there so they took me back. I followed them to this strange house and then I saw, how the other evil man shot them and they collapsed..." He sniffed again.

"Were they shot with bullets?," Kylie asked, alarmed. The robot shook his head. "No. Colorful arrows.," he answered.

Kylie breathed in relief. At least they were alive, this sounded like the sedative darts they used. "Do you think, you would find this place again?" Bokkun looked at her, scared. "B-but he'll hurt me!," he cried.

Kylie sighed. He was really upset, she better distracted him a little. "Say, how did you manage to let the stuff here float?," she asked.

"I-I used this." He showed her a little cube-shaped object, having the size of an ordinary dice. It fit easily in his small hand. "It's a Gravity-Manipulator. I found it in the secret house."

Kylie frowned. "What secret house?," she asked. "The one under here. I found it, I had nowhere to go. There were some bad guys, I was scared of them and borrowed it from the lab down there. They thought it were ghosts, which let the things float."

"And how do you get there?" "That's the elevator." Bokkun pointed to the brightly lit room. It was quite ironic – one of their enemies had actually protected some of their stuff against burglars.

Kylie looked at the small device again. Breaking in into one of Perringten's lairs wouldn't be easy. Maybe she would find something useful in this 'secret house'.

"Okay, I need to check this. Do you mind showing me this lab?," she asked. Bokkun nodded, his eyes sparkling. Like all little kids, he loved it to show adults something he discovered.

He took her hand and with his robotic strength, he pulled her over to the elevator, Kylie having barely enough time to stand up, before they made their way over. As the elevator had been built for normal sized mobians, Kylie had to duck to fit in it. The door slid shut and they were transported in the underground.

Shortly after, they were there and the door opened. Kylie and Bokkun stepped out, but Kylie couldn't straighten, the ceiling wasn't any higher than the one of the elevator. She looked around, as good, as she could.

She stood in a hallway with a wooden floor and light green painted walls. Paintings and framed photographs were left and right on the wall. It could have been the hallway of a normal house.

"Follow me!," Bokkun squeaked happily and ran down the hallway. This robot had the mood swings of a pregnant woman.

Kylie followed him, bent down, as if she was at least forty years older. Several closed doors were on her right and left with tags on them, that had names written on, like 'Bathroom', 'Kitchen' and 'Storage room'. She even came across a ward, a room for ambulant treatment, bedrooms with the names of the two brothers on it, a living room, a dining room and also some guestrooms. It really was a secret house, like Bokkun had claimed.

The lab was one of the last rooms. In it was, besides a large amount of equipment, of that she didn't know, what it was precisely, a large metal shelf with lots of devices in all shapes and sizes with little tags on them and instructions next to them, all neatly placed next to each other. A small gap in the lowest part of the shelf indicated, from where Bokkun had had the Gravity-Manipulator. There had to be something useful here for her, too!

* * *

"I spy something colorful." "Is it a pillow?" "No." "A blanket?" "Yeah." "Alright! My turn. I spy something gray." "A computer?" "Yes. Alright, points for both of us!"

Shadow asked himself, if it was possible to die from boredom. Silver and John played this stupid game for hours, by now their breakfast and lunch had already come! Although they didn't have much to 'spy', they just didn't stop with it.

At first, it had been interesting, as Silver hadn't known enough words for the equipment on John's side and the human had been forced to describe, what he saw, giving the others a good picture of how the office he sat in looked like. But Silver had learned quickly and soon, it hadn't been necessary to describe anymore and the game had become boring – besides for the two playing it. They just didn't get tired of it.

The only good coming from it was, that Sonic had grown so bored from listening, that he had dozed off. Right now, he was sleeping, with his head on Shadow's lap, allowing his body to get all the rest it needed.

Scourge was snoring too, while Fleetway was curled up in his usual corner, looking sometimes up and to the green uke.

While Shadow tried to ignore the mind-numbing game, Mephiles was following it with greatest interest. Either he was fascinated from the game, that for sure nobody had ever played with him, or he simply adored Silver's voice and current joy.

After an eternity of boredom, a ringing noise let the hedgehog's ears shot up. While Sonic groaned unwillingly and rolled around to snuggle deeper into a blushing Shadow's lap, the others, even Scourge, looked up and to the window, behind that was John. "Sorry, Silver, I need to get this. We play again later, okay?" "Okay.," Silver sighed sadly and John switched off his microphone.

"Do you really want to play this again?," Mephiles asked incredulously. "Sure! I still have a lot of things I haven't spied yet.," Silver grinned and with something bordering to horror, Mephiles realized, that the walls of their cell were out of segmented cushions, meaning LOTS of pillows.

Oh, Chaos...

* * *

Meanwhile, John was busy pretending, that his father was talking with Kylie. "Doctor Ellen, how is 102?" "He is well, sir. The antidote took effect."

John knew by now, that Scourge had really gotten the antidote after the fake intercourse. Luckily, he was too valuable for further experimentation, at least for now.

"Good. I take it, tomorrow you can draw his blood for an analysis?" "Of course, sir." Hopefully, Kylie and GUN were back until then, otherwise it would become...complicated. "That's good to hear. I would like to talk with you in personal, do you have time?," Perringten asked.

John grinned. He had been prepared for this. "I'm terribly sorry sir, but I'm not feeling well. It seems I have been infected by a hedgehog disease. I don't want to risk infecting anyone else.," 'Kylie' answered.

"A disease? By one of my six hedgehogs?" Perringten didn't buy this...yet. "I don't think it is a disease, that affects them in any way, but it infects others, if he or she is too close for too long."

It was silent on Perringten's side, which made John nervous. "I see.," was his answer. Oh dear. This didn't sound good.

"You won't be able to draw the blood tomorrow, then?," he asked, John could hear the distrust in his voice. "But of course, I just wouldn't want to infect anyone, so I need to do it alone."

John started to sweat. This wasn't going like he had hoped it would. Why was he so distrusting? Kylie had been proven innocent! Okay, she wasn't, but how should he know the truth?

"Even without me? I had been in contact with all three ukes, as you might remember. Seems like I'm immune."

"Or one of the semes had been infected and the ukes are immune.," John let Kylie answer. "Are you sure, it isn't dangerous? 102 is carrying after all!," Perringten asked concerned. John breathed in relief. Phew. He bought it. "I am sure it isn't, 102 would have shown signs of discomfort already, should he be affected." "That's good to know. Ask anyone of the medicinal ward, if you need help with your own recovery." And he hung up.

John sighed and leaned back in his chair. That had been a close one. He needed to be careful, his father was already distrusting enough. Now...where had he and Silver stopped?

* * *

"She needs to be careful. This place is dangerous. But she has to go. They need her help.," the girl said. "Who's 'they'?," an innocent little voice asked – and this time, she answered.

* * *

While John was driving some semes mad, Kylie stood in front of the 'psychiatric hospital'. Bokkun had showed her the way to the place, where Sonic's friends were most likely locked up and she could convince the frightened robot to help her.

Now, he was standing right beside her, clutching a device of Tails in his hand, that disguised him. It was some kind of digital cloak, only working for objects. Technically, the little robot was an object, so it would work for him.

In her hand, she held a suitcase, it and its carefully selected content were borrowed – not without a little regret and a silent promise to replace everything, when this was over – from Sonic's and Tails' secret house. Her bruises were covered up with quickly bought make-up and she wore her lab coat to look convincing.

Kylie pressed the button of the bell, nearly immediately getting an answer. "St. Ranael Psychiatric Hospital, how may I help you?," the voice of an elderly woman asked in a...less friendly way.

"Dr. Kylie Ellen.," she mimicked the cruel and icy tone of her colleagues on the Island. "I was sent by Jester Perringten."

It was silent for a few seconds, before the same voice, this time laced with overly sweetness, replied, "Of course, please, step through!"

The gates swung open automatically and Kylie, with the invisible Bokkun, proceeded to go up to the building.

"And don't forget it, don't make any noise, whatsoever.," Kylie reminded her companion through her teeth. "Why? And why are you talking like that?," Bokkun asked. "Because we're playing a game. We are playing secret agents and are infiltrating an evil lair.," Kylie explained.

"Oh. Okay!" Bokkun giggled, but stopped so suddenly, when they reached the entrance of the hospital, that Kylie thought for a moment, that he was gone, but the subtle pull on the back of her lab coat told her, that he was still there.

"Dr. Ellen, I presume?" A young human man with blue eyes and brown hair came to her from the desk in a corner, a smile on his face.

"Indeed." Kylie looked around the bland foyer with a measuring glare, while she felt, how Bokkun trembled against her leg. This had to be the man, who had shot the three mobians.

"I'm Prof. Seamus Bryan, it's nice to meet you! But if I may ask, what are you doing here?," he asked, while they were shaking hands. Bryan even attempted a kiss on her hand, which she was thankfully able to avoid.

"I'm here to get the mobians you hold.," Kylie replied with a don't-argue-with-me-tone, mixing a bit more ice into it, so he would keep his hands – and lips – to himself.

"The mobians? Why?" Bryan grew instantly distrusting. "I don't think, that asking about Jester Perringten's plans is, what we are paid for.," Kylie said coldly. The man gulped visibly. That had been effective.

"O-of course. But the five are very dangerous, we need to keep four of them constantly drugged to control them."

Kylie had to struggle to keep her face straight. Five? She only knew of three! However, she wouldn't leave the other two behind, so she said, "This isn't an issue. Just give me a room and bring them there. Leave the rest to me. Believe me, they will be tamed without such measures."

"And how are you planning to do this?," the man asked. "I'm not allowed to talk about this, it's top secret. Also, I request, that the room I will be given has no cameras."

Bryan looked at her with a questioning glare. "I...think I'll call Perringten, before I take any steps...," he said slowly.

"Yeah, please do this – but keep me out of it. I won't risk the salary increase, that he has promised the both of us, for my side."

"A salary increase?," Bryan repeated, greed in his eyes. "The mobians are obviously very valuable.," Kylie shrugged. "Once he has them, we'll both get the money." "I see. In this case, please follow me, I'll give you an empty office we currently have and then retrieve the mobians for you."

He led her – and Bokkun – to a door on the same floor. He opened it, revealing a room with nothing more than a window opposite the door, a metal desk on the left and an old sofa on the right. "I hope, this room is to your satisfaction. Or is there anything you need, besides this?," Bryan asked friendly, obviously keen on the reward and therefore not taking any chances.

"A telephone, or better a mobile.," Kylie answered and, when Bryan looked confused at her, she added, "For my doing, it's important to have peace and quiet, so I will ask for the hallway to stay empty. However, I would need for my own safety any kind of communication. Sadly, I forgot my own mobile back on the Island. It was hurrying matter, it seemed.," she added, more to herself, as if she had been tossed from a laboratory onto a ship in the blink of an eye.

Bryan bought it without a question. "I'll bring you one right away!" And he walked away as fast as he could, without actually running.

Kylie waited, until he was gone around the corner, before she ushered Bokkun silently inside, closed the door, walked to the desk and lifted her suitcase to place it on the top, ready to be opened, but not yet. Bryan would never believe her previous lies, if he saw, what she had in there.

"Bokkun, please go in this corner there, okay? And don't say anything, until I'll tell you otherwise!," she ordered, pointing in the desired corner, farthest away from Bryan.

Bokkun giggled, still thinking of all this as a game and obviously, he had lost his fear of the male human. It was good like that, she thought. The less he feared him, the less he would be a danger of her lies being discovered.

A knock let her look to the door. "Come in.," she called and Bryan entered. "Here. I hope, this is to your liking." He gave her a rather old, dusty, but still working mobile. Obviously, it had been stored for a long time, maybe taken away from one of the older patients. "It will do.," Kylie shrugged, careless and cold again.

"Good. I will let my men retrieve the mobians for you now and of course instruct them to not disturb you." With a nod of his head in respect, he went again, closing the door.

Kylie took a deep breath. This she had managed. Now, there was a bigger problem – how do you get most likely scared and drugged mobians to listen to you as a human?

Tails sniffed, while he pressed himself in the corner farthest away from the door. He was in the cell, where they all had started, but this time alone. He didn't know, where the others were or for how long he was locked up here. The window above him had been closed, so he sat in absolute darkness, that only got interrupted, when he got the disgusting gray stuff as a meal.

He wasn't in a straitjacket anymore, they obviously thought, that he wasn't worth the effort. He was useless, that's how he saw it. His tails, lying limp left and right of him, were unable to move, they were most likely broken. Without them, his last chance to flee was gone.

Sitting in the dark, he had repeated everything, that Bryan had told him during their first visit at the 'uke institute', he had tried to discover all the lies, one by one.

How could he have been so stupid? All he had told him, had most likely been fake to lure Sonic in his clutches. And he had allowed it! He had betrayed the only family he had! Not only Sonic, but Amy, Rouge, Blaze and Knuckles as well. They were all in trouble because of his fault to trust this human!

Guilt weighed heavily on his trembling shoulders, while he sobbed once again in despair. The fear of the unknown was constricting his insides and he felt like he was going to throw up.

His breath hitched, when he heard the door being unlocked. He trembled even more and pressed himself tightly in the corner.

The recently repaired door swung open, flooding the cell with light. Two large, human-shaped shadows, that nearly covered the light again, appeared and one of them stepped in the cell.

The tall human looked around the small room and discovered the terrified fox easily. He smirked coldly, walked over to him, grabbed his scruff harshly and lifted him up so hard, that he cried out, before he quite literally threw the fox out, the other human had stepped aside beforehand, to not get hit by the mobian.

Tails landed hard on the floor, nearly hitting his head against the opposite wall. He cried out, when his injured tails and his left wrist made contact with the ground. He was sure, that all three parts of his body were broken now. His neck, where he had been grabbed, stung sharply.

"Stand up!," the human, who had thrown him, yelled at him. Sniffling, Tails managed to bring himself on his feet, just to be pushed so hard in his back, that he nearly fell again, but only stumbled a few steps, before catching himself, cradling his wrist.

"Go!," he was ordered and without any other choice, he moved in the direction he had been pushed. He came across the foyer, but the woman behind the desk didn't even look up. It made him tremble even more. What did they plan to do to him?

He was forced in another hallway, away from the foyer. "Hey, wait up!," a voice behind them called and they stopped, Tails only, because a foot stood on the tips of his limply dragged behind him tails to keep him in place.

He turned around and his heart stopped a beat: the others! Knuckles, Amy, Rouge and Blaze were brought by other humans, chains around their wrists and leather collars around their necks, that were connected with chains the humans held. They were thin, probably as much as he was, and their eyes seemed...so lifeless.

"Knuckles! Amy! Rouge! Blaze!," he called out, but didn't even receive a twitch of an ear or an eye. What did they do to them?

"Not so fast and loud now, are they?," the man, who was leading Rouge in front of him, chuckled coldheartedly. "True. As if they ever had a chance.," the man, who stood on his tails, sneered.

When the unresponsive mobians were next to Tails, he was allowed to walk further. He looked at his friends from the corner of his eyes, but they were still this strange... His hope, that had risen to unknown heights, when he had seen his friends, shattered once more. This was it, wherever they went, wasn't it?

They reached a simple door in the hallway, that got opened from one of the two men, who accompanied him. Inside was a woman in her forties, with black long hair and brown, cold eyes. She let her eyes wander over the mobians without any emotion.

Tails felt his throat go dry, when he saw her white lab coat. Was she a vet? Was she here to...send them to sleep!? Should she get rid of them now!? Fear nearly swallowed him whole.

He tried to move back, but got pushed in the room, together with the others, who had been freed of their chains and had obviously trouble staying on their feet.

"Would this be all?," the man, who had thrown him out of the cell, asked, he and another man blocking the door and with it every chance of escape.

"Almost. I also need ice and – do they have any personal belongings?," the woman asked. "Just a few things, nothing important. Wanted to throw it away-"

The woman didn't let him stop speaking, she marched with quick movements forward, grabbed the plastic bag the man had held with their belongings in one hand and took the handle of the door in the other.

"The ice, if I may ask?," she said coldly and one of the men quickly bolted away. The woman continued to stand with the door in her hand, staring at the men, who fidgeted and tried to avoid her piercing eyes. She had to be a very important person to have that much authority.

Nobody said something, until the man with the ice came, it was in a small bucket. "Is it enough?," he asked, worried.

The woman took the bucket and looked at it with this emotionless face. "It will do. Now, I don't wish for any disturbances and should this freaking building start to burn, I don't want to hear anything about it, too. Did I make myself clear?," she asked with so much malice, that all beings in the room – who were coherent enough to understand her – shuddered, and the men quickly nodded.

"Good." With this final word spoken, the woman threw the door shut and locked it. She sighed then soundlessly, walked to a metal desk, on that was a suitcase, opened it and took out something, that fit so good in her hand, that he didn't see it anymore.

She walked back to the door and pressed her hand with the something on the wood, before redrawing it.

Tails' jaw dropped – this was HIS invention! It was the 'Muter', a device, that looked a little like a four-legged spider, the thin metal legs serving to keep it in place, even on glass or a similar slippery surface. Its 'body' was constructed to swallow every noise of a room or area not bigger than two kilometers. But this had been hidden in their secret base/house! How did this woman find it?

Said female moved away from the door. "Bokkun, you can leave the disguise now.," she said, while she turned her attention to the other mobians.

This woke Tails up. At once, he was between his friends and the stranger. "Don't come any closer!," he growled, his voice hoarser, than when he had called out to his friends.

The woman smiled, much warmer, than he would have expected from the previously so cold female, but he still flinched, when she reached out her hand to him.

He looked up, when he felt the big hand gently stroking his head. "It's okay. I will free you. But let me look at your friends first, I need to make sure, that it's nothing too bad.," she explained.

"She's okay, promise!," Bokkun decided to help her, his 'disguise', that had made him invisible for his eyes until now, put already away. "And she knows Sonic!"

Upon hearing this, Tails let all carefulness go. He grabbed the woman's hand and looked at her with pleading, desperate eyes.

"How is he? Is he alive? Is he hurt? Oh, please, tell me, that he is okay!," he begged, his tears overflowing.

* * *

"She will be in danger soon." She looked up to meet confused and anxious pairs of eyes. "Please, you must do something!"

* * *

Kylie had had trouble with keeping her tears in, since she had seen the mobians. She didn't know, which was worse – the obviously highly drugged, unhealthy thin and weak four mobians, or the absolutely awake and terrified Tails.

She had managed to keep her emotions hidden, until she had closed the door and used the 'Muter' of Tails. But now, seeing the crying fox in front of her, begging for any kind of information about his brother, she couldn't hold it in and she grabbed the little fox in a tight embrace.

"Yes, he is okay. He isn't in the best form of his life, but there is nothing he won't recover from.," she whispered, choking back a sob. She held him for a few seconds more, until she heard a noise of discomfort coming from him.

Quickly, she let go and watched, how he cradled his left wrist. "Let me see!" She gently took his hand and carefully examined his wrist, causing him to wince now and then.

"It's badly sprained, but not broken, luckily. Sadly, I can't treat it right now. They think I'm here to get you to my boss, so I can't be nice to you outside this room, while they watch. May I look at...er...your tails?," she asked. It sounded weird, now, that she spoke it out loud. Hesitantly, Tails turned around so she could see them.

Kylie was as gently as she could with the examination, but the two appendages were truly broken. She would need to treat them once they were out of here.

"We'll fix your broken tails as soon as we can, okay? Until then, how about some painkillers? It'll help a little."

Seemingly a little more aware of who he was talking with again and therefore more cautiously, the fox nodded.

Kylie smiled and went to the suitcase to get out a bottle with water and a box with painkillers. "Here.," she gave him both, trusting, that he knew how much he could take.

Tails looked at the items in his hands, his normally white gloves gray against the white of the carton. "They're...from our house, right?," he asked. "Well, the underground version of it – very sweet furnished, by the way. The overground house is...well, empty. I'll replace everything I borrowed, promise," Kylie explained, while rummaging through the suitcase.

"W-what date do we have?," Tails asked, knowing, that their house wasn't in a too troublesome district of the town and therefore wouldn't have been emptied this fast after their disappearance.

Kylie hesitated, before she eventually answered. Tails felt, as if he was frozen from the inside. "Eleven.," he whispered.

"Hm? What did you say?," Bokkun asked. "We have been here for eleven days.," Tails whimpered, new tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Bokkun, can you...er...help him...in any way?," Kylie asked, while finally finding, what she had been searching for.

She went to the quiet mobians with a box, in that she had clean and empty syringes and a little flask with a clear fluid in it in her hands and knelt down in front of the pink hedgehog girl, who stood between the echidna and the cat.

As she was apparently the youngest, she first saw to her. Carefully, she checked her temperature, her eyes, or better pupils, and her breathing, before she was sure, that the drugging wasn't so bad, a little bit of the medicine she had brought along was enough to help her. She grabbed one of the syringes and filled it.

"W-what are you doing?," Tails asked weakly, while Bokkun, who really wasn't an expert concerning comfort, patted his back awkwardly. "I'm treating them, so they'll be clear in the head again soon. Bokkun, do you wanna help?," the woman asked.

"Sure!," the robot cheered, happy to do something, that hopefully suited his talents more.

"Then take one of the towels in the suitcase and fill it with the ice in the bucket. The cold will help them to come to it faster."

"They will attack you.," Tails mumbled, looking away. "They hate humans." "I'm risking it.," the woman shrugged. "I'm dancing in fire for three years now. And it's worth it." With that, she gently injected the liquid in Amy's arm, before picking the girl up.

She carried her to the old sofa and placed her carefully on it with Bokkun joining them and placing a bundle with ice in it on her head.

"Good work, nurse Bokkun.," Kylie praised and returned to the other three. She examined the cat next, figuring, that she was the second youngest. Her brows furrowed, when she noticed, that she was not only higher drugged, but also she could see traces of dirt on her clothing. Had she been kicked?

"Tails, Bokkun, please turn around.," she said. "Why?," the boys asked. "Because I'm going to do something, that isn't appropriate for someone your age." Tails felt a blush creeping up his cheeks and he turned away, but he was watching the woman and Blaze out of the corner of his eyes, in case she did more, than he presumed right now.

"I'm sorry.," Kylie mumbled towards the cat, before carefully opening her violet torn jacket and looking at her exposed torso. She could see bruises under her fur and after a further examination – while keeping the touches and glares to the absolute minimum – she noticed, that her ribs weren't broken, but there were some light cracks possible. For now, painkillers had to do.

She closed her jacket again, before giving her more of the medicine than Amy, with another clean syringe, before picking her up without a problem and bringing her to the sofa next to Amy.

She noticed, that Bokkun and Tails were still turned away, not aware of the fact, that the fox had watched her secretly. "Sorry, you can look again.," she told them. "Tails, please give this girl also some painkillers, when she's better. Bokkun, ice for her, too, please." "On it!," the robot grinned.

Kylie brought her attention now to the white bat, as she could imagine, that the drugs would affect her more, than the male. She examined her and noticed, that she was less drugged than the cat, therefore she gave her a smaller dose and put her on the sofa for Bokkun to give her some ice, too.

Now, there was only one left. Kylie carefully examined the echidna. He was the most drugged of the four, she noticed, although she could have also imagined that much – he was a male and from what she knew, he was really a fighter. A strong fighter. He was most likely sky-high right now. She decided to give him the highest dosage possible, before she brought him to the others. The sofa, designed for three grown-up humans, provided enough space for everyone.

Just a few minutes later, Amy started to stir. She groaned and grabbed the bundle of ice on her head. "W-what happened?," she muttered and opened her green eyes to discover the curious robot in front of her.

"B-Bokkun!?," she gasped and jumped up, scaring said robot away with the movement, only to collapse on her knees again, holding her head, that was pounding angrily.

"Don't strain yourself right now, take deep breaths.," a voice said and when she looked up, she saw a human woman in front of a metal desk, a few meters away from her. Bokkun hid behind her and peaked out. "She's scary!," the little robot whimpered.

"Who are you?," Amy growled at the human, her voice thick with distrust. "My name is Kylie, Kylie Ellen. I came here to help you get out of here."

"Yeah, right. As if that's true." Knuckles had recovered, too, like the other two. It was impressive, they were very tough, tougher, than she had estimated.

"Who are you really? What do you plan to do with us?," the echidna growled. Kylie just looked at the furious, yet weakened mobians.

"As I told you, my name is Kylie. I'm a vet and during the last weeks I've been trying to help Sonic."

Knuckles and Amy jerked. "What do you know from Sonic? And why should he need a vet?," Knuckles hissed. "He and other hedgehogs are right now on an Island, it was my duty to look after the ukes there. As a vet, I already knew a lot about medicine, I only needed to learn a little more to be able to cure and treat mobians."

"And now you're just here because you feel like doing some good? Or are you always walking around with medical supplies?," Knuckles snarled, not aware of the fact, that they would still be locked up and drugged, if she hadn't she come.

"I...was actually on the way to GUN, to stop the madness on the Island once and for all, but Sonic had asked me to look after Tails." Kylie paused for a second and looked over to the fox, before she continued. "When I found the house abandoned, I feared the worst and when I found Bokkun there, who told me you got locked up here, I simply had to come and help you."

"You say, that there are hedgehogs on this island, is there also a silver hedgehog with a strange quill style?," the violet cat Kylie never saw before asked.

"A silver hedgehog with-" And then it clicked. "You're Blaze! You're Silver's sister!," the woman exclaimed, startling the others a bit. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you at first! Silver has been telling me so much about you!"

"You know Silver? Where is he? Is he well!?," Blaze asked, alarmed. "Yes, he is, don't worry. He had been sick, when he had come on my ward on the Island, but luckily, the disease had been curable."

"If he's well, why didn't you free him and took him with you!?," Blaze hissed, distrusting once more. "And Sonic?," Amy added.

"I couldn't. Silver, Sonic and a third uke are currently the most guarded prisoners on the Island. If I had freed them, the other hedgehogs would have been killed and the Island destroyed to leave no evidence. Sonic didn't want this and the others did agree with him.," Kylie explained patiently.

"Figures, that this idiot thinks about anyone else first.," Knuckles muttered, before his glare hardened again. "That doesn't mean I trust you. Tell me, what happens on this Island?," he asked. The woman sighed. "The humans there force the ukes to get pregnant, again and again."

It grew silent, while the mobians tried to digest this. "S-Sonic's-" "S-Silver-" "No, don't worry, they aren't! But it's getting harder and harder to protect them." Kylie left out the part of Sonic's miscarriage – they didn't need to know this, yet.

"You protect them? Why? You're a human, aren't you?," Blaze asked. "Because I quickly noticed, that the ukes and semes there are much more human, than a majority of humanity.," Kylie explained dully. "Seeing Sonic, Silver, Scourge, even Shadow, Mephiles and Fleetway, I don't think I'm among animals, or mobians. They have as much heart and soul than me, if not much, much more."

"Shadow? Shadow's there, too?," the bat asked. Kylie looked at her. "You are Rouge, right? Yes, Shadow's there. He told me to go to you, when I've reached GUN, and to tell you this: I forgot my kitten in the laundry."

Before anyone could wonder, just what had gotten into the woman, Rouge's face nearly split in half from the huge grin she suddenly had on her face.

"And he said he hated this code. Alright, girl, I believe you. Nobody besides me and Shadow knew about it. He must trust you – and he isn't gullible at all. So, what's the plan to bust us out?," she asked.

"Is she really trustworthy?," Knuckles whispered in her big ear. "Well, unless you have a plan to free us, that won't backfire like the last, she's our best bet.," Rouge shrugged. Knuckles sighed, while looking briefly at Tails, who had started to look through the plastic bag with their belongings. He had been through enough, he could see, that his tails were broken and how thin he was.

"Fine. What's your plan?," he asked, obviously sure, that this would backfire as well. "I told this Prof. Bryan, that I'm here to get you. You only need to follow me, but maybe you should...well, pretend to be...er...hypnotized?"

"Hypnotized? Why?" "I'm sure they didn't drug you for nothing, you did fight, I presume. After this, they won't believe, that I just 'tamed' you. So, I think hypnosis is a good explanation, why you suddenly...er...behave.," Kylie explained. It made sense... "Fine.," Knuckles finally gave up.

* * *

Big brown eyes looked up to the tall human girl. "Please, they're dying!," the little mobian girl pleaded. "Save them, I know you can!"

The girl sighed in defeat and looked up to the person next to her, who was already clad in the dirt-colored capes they wore, when they moved out. "You. Owe. Me. Big time. And if something happens to my sisters because I was away, I WILL slaughter you. Did I make myself clear?," she hissed.

The hooded figure chuckled. "Promise. Now, let's head out." And four shadows ran away at maximum speed.

* * *

After about fifteen minutes, in that the mobians had greedily eaten what little food Kylie had brought along just in case, had drunken water and, if needed, painkillers, after days without other fluids than liquid drugs, they walked out.

Everyone was following Kylie with her suitcase, their heads low and their faces a neutral mask, trying to look without any free will. Bokkun was disguised again and walked behind Rouge, who was the last in the row.

They reached the foyer, where Dr. Bryan stood, obviously waiting for her. "Ah, Dr. Ellen! You were successful? And in this short amount of time, too! I'm impressed.," he said, coming to her, until he was less than a meter away.

"It wasn't that impressive.," Kylie replied with the fake cold voice she had warned the mobians about beforehand.

"Oh, quite the contrary! To infiltrate this institution, gain the trust of those beasts and nearly managing to leave this place, is quite an achievement."

Before his words had time to sink in, the man backhanded Kylie so suddenly and hard, that she fell on the floor.

Immediately, the mobians were at her side, dropping the already discovered act. Armed men streamed in from behind and in front of them, surrounding them with their weapons ready to shoot.

"H-how?," Kylie asked with a shaking voice. "I wasn't employed for nothing. I let my men install a small bugging device onto the fox. I got a lot of information because of you, Dr. Ellen. Perringten will be very pleased with me." Great. A Mini-Perringten. Just what she needed.

Tails touched his neck and felt a little object there. He grabbed it and felt it scrape against his skin, before he pulled it off. It was a small device, much smaller than his 'Muter' and resembled a mechanic spider.

That's why he had been grabbed on his scruff, not out of malice – well, not _only_ because of that –, but to put it on him unnoticed...

"I'm so sorry.," he whispered. "Not your fault.," Knuckles muttered, while trying to find a gap between the men, or any other way to escape. "Enough playtime. Get them, but don't kill them, yet.," Bryan ordered and the men were closing in.

That was, when the chaos started. Before Kylie knew it, she was up and kicked, hit and bit everything she could, trying to keep them away from Tails...and maybe Bokkun, he was still invisible, so it was impossible to say, where he was. Her ears hurt from all the shouts and other noises, that had their origin in the fights, that had started around her.

Someone tried to grab Tails, but she kicked him off, only to get grabbed in return from behind by her long hair, making her cry out. Suddenly, something separated the held hair and the rest of it, making her fall over. Kylie quickly sat up and grabbed her hair...or what had been left of it. It was now not even reaching her shoulders anymore, at least on the left side, the right side was a little longer. She looked up and saw Rouge in the air, grinning proudly.

Kylie managed to smile back, before the bat dove down in the crowd again and Kylie was forced to ram her elbow into the nose of another man trying to shoot Tails from behind her.

Luckily, the other mobians kept their battles around them, so only few men had the opportunity to actually reach the woman and the child.

Another arm grabbed Kylie and she twisted her body to free herself, when another sound got her attention. She looked down to it and saw the disk John had given her in its container slide away from her. It must've fallen out of her pocket!

She tried to reach it, but had to punch yet another attacker. She gritted her teeth, when her fist started to hurt. Why did nobody EVER tell her, that hitting someone in the face hurt that much!? She tried to ignore the pain and to look for the disk, but it had disappeared in a forest of dark clothed human legs. Damn it all!

"What's wrong?," Tails shouted, the noises around them making the volume necessary. "The disk! I need to find it!," Kylie shouted frantically, not thinking about the fact, that Tails didn't know, what disk she meant and, why it was so important. However, he knew the woman well enough by now to know, that she wouldn't be so alarmed, if it wasn't important – and who would EVER crawl over a battlefield to look for an unimportant disk? Dodging another attacker, he went to help her.

* * *

"They are there now. Everything will be alright...almost, that is...," she mumbled, while her – decimated – audience watched her confused.

* * *

Everyone stilled, when the whole building suddenly shook. Dust fell from the ceiling and a loud CRACK! filled the air. Then a second time. And a third.

Kylie looked at the wall, that separated them from the outside world and saw the cracks, that started to appear in the solid surface. Just two more of those quakes were necessary to make the whole wall collapse.

The woman quickly grabbed Tails next to her and hid the smaller fox under her body where she sat on the floor, to protect him from the falling debris and the falling and fleeing men. She got kicked in the head, the knees and her sides several times and some smaller debris fell on her, but nothing hurt her badly enough to be concerned. Dust filled her nose and mouth and made her cough, just when the rain of debris stopped and she could look up.

Through the still flying dust, she could make out only the outlines of four figures. Judging by the size, two of them, standing next to each other on the right, were most likely mobians, the two on her left could be human teenagers.

"What in Chaos' name-?" Knuckles and the other mobians hadn't moved from the spot, staring at the giant hole now replacing the wall.

"Hey, Knux, long time no see.," one of the mobian strangers said, a grin in his voice. Said echidna's jaw fell. "Mighty!?," he exclaimed.

The stranger flipped back his hood, revealing a mobian armadillo with a red plate on his back, a black body and yellow ears and snout, who had a huge grin on his face, that lit up his blue eyes as well. "Hi. Fancy meeting you here.," he grinned.

"Hurry it up, Mighty. They're recovering and will be back in a few minutes.," the mobian next to him said with an annoyed voice.

"Mighty got serious. "Right. Come on, my friend Shy will bring you out of here.," he waved, gesturing to one of the taller figures.

"When they heard the previously fleeing men return, the mobians didn't hesitate. Knuckles grabbed Kylie, who still had Tails in her arms, ignoring their simultaneous shout of "Stop!", as they had no time to lose and carried both over to this 'Shy', where the others had already gathered.

"This are all.," the hooded figure said, as if she – it was a female, judging by her voice – knew the group all along. She raised her right hand, revealing human fingers, already in the position to snap, which she did just then. Immediately, a bright light appeared in her hand, that swallowed all people around it and when it disappeared, so had everyone it had engulfed.

The only thing they left behind was a disk, 'waving' in the air and 'stepping' through the hole and a voice, seemingly from a child, but with some kind of metallic creak in it, saying out of thin air, without a body visible it belonged to, "Kylie, I found your...! Kylie? Guys?"

* * *

FINALLY! Finally I can give you this! Sorry for the long wait, I helped out someone between the end of February and the beginning of March, and it took a toll on my creativity, I suffered from a small episode of writer's block. I think, that's over now. Besides, this is the longest chapter so far for The Island, with 14,1K words! Woohoo! Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Have a nice day!


	15. Reunion on the Island

**15: Reunion on the Island**

The light blinded the group for a short while, but their senses told them, that they were now somewhere else, transported by this brightness, that had come out of nowhere. They smelt fresh, clean air and grass and they could hear wind rustling through trees, howling even.

Amy and Tails, having the feeling to know, where they might be, attempted to open their eyes, Knuckles instead recognized this place instantly, not having to look around first to do so.

They were on Angel Island.

They stood in front of the shrine with the Master Emerald in its center above them, shining in the sun light.

"Well, well, well, what a beauty!," Rouge grinned, her eyes observing the giant emerald and the four small Chaos Emeralds, that the friends had managed to gather for safekeeping, before this uke-mess had started and that were floating above the tops of four of the seven pillars forming a circle around the shrine.

"I don't like the way you look at them. Hands off, got it?," Knuckles growled, his guardian-mentality resurfacing easily.

"Relax, looking doesn't hurt, does it?," the bat grinned. Knuckles rolled his eyes and turned around to look around the group, trying to estimate, if he needed to have a close eye on someone else besides the bat.

Blaze, who had for some reason Kylie's suitcase in her hand, watched the giant gem stone in awe, but he couldn't see greed in her eyes.

Amy stretched a little, truly relaxed, as the Floating Island was a second home for her and she knew, that she was safe here.

The human woman sat under a tree not too far away with Tails talking to her. She didn't even look once at the emeralds.

The three hooded figures looked around, but they seemed more interested in the landscape, than the treasure in front of them, so he decided, that he could let his guard down a little to talk to one of his oldest friends.

"What are you doing here?," he asked the armadillo, who had waited patiently for him to bring his attention back to him, straight forward as usual.

He hadn't seen Mighty in ages, the armadillo with the superior strength had years ago decided to cut off all contacts and go with his best friend and adoptive brother on a journey to learn how to control his power without fearing to hurt anyone.

"You're welcome, saving your butts was a pleasure.," Mighty chuckled. "When I heard, that you're in trouble, I simply had to come.," he added. "You _heard_ it? From whom?," Knuckles asked, confused. "Sorry, I'm not allowed to tell.," the armadillo grinned.

" _Allowed_? Since when are you letting ANYONE tell you, what you are allowed to do and say and what not?," Knuckles wondered, truly incredulously now.

"Since I have friends, who can easily kill me.," Mighty grinned, nodding to the still hooded figures, who stood like statues close to them, still looking around.

He didn't sound concerned, anxious or even angry about this fact, though, quite the contrary, he seemed actually happy to have such strong companions.

The reason for it was easy – they _matched_ him. He couldn't kill them, it just wasn't possible, even with twice his strength. He could be himself, and those crazy people weren't in danger of getting hurt.

Although he had learned how to restrain himself, he still had to concentrate to succeed and even the slightest disturbance of his concentration could have fatal consequences – if he was with normal people. His new friends could handle it, no problem.

"If you don't mind me asking – just what were you doing there? And where's Sonic?" Mighty knew the blue hedgehog good enough to know, that he would never leave his friends to suffer.

"It's a long story. To make it short, Sonic's in trouble and we need to get to him. Feel free to join in. Hey, woman!," Knuckles called out.

He turned around to look for the human and everyone stilled, when a new noise, that the talk before had drowned out, was now clearly audible.

Sobbing.

And it came from the only human being on the whole island. Kylie sat under the same tree from before, curled up, her head buried in her arms resting on her knees.

Tails stood helplessly next to her, obviously not even knowing, what exactly upset her so much. The mobians looked at each other, nobody really keen on trying to comfort the woman.

Finally, one of the hooded figures sighed, walked in front of Kylie and flipped the hood back. It was a human teenage girl, with long brown hair, that looked wild and unkempt, and green eyes. "Alright, what's the matter?," she asked, her voice neither comforting, nor interested. It wasn't new to them, however – the girl was this _Shy_ , who had brought them here.

Kylie jerked a little because of the rather foreign voice and looked up. Her eyes were red and there were still tears running down her face. "I-I lost it. I lost the disk.," she stammered. "Judging by your behavior, I doubt, that on it were your favorite vacation pictures.," the girl muttered. "On it was all evidence for GUN. And the description of the way to the Island.," Kylie sobbed.

"Does that mean, you don't know, where this Island is!?," Knuckles shouted, making her flinch.

Shy rolled her eyes. "It's an _island_. A big mass of land on the ocean. How difficult can it be to find it?," she asked, bored.

She turned her attention back to the sobbing woman. "So, that's not much of a problem. Why are you still crying?," she asked.

"B-Bryan, he will call P-Perringten...and...and..." Her sobbing interrupted her. "Perringten... the bad guy above all else, right? And if he knows, what you did, what would be the worst, that could happen? Will he kill everyone on this land mass?," Shy asked, still with this bored expression. To everyone's horror, besides Shy's, Kylie nodded.

"Well, that still doesn't explain, why you are playing fountain here." The girl sat on her ankles, her stare boring in Kylie.

"No matter how close you got with them, they are still animals, that wouldn't throw you this much off balance."

"Shy...," Mighty sighed, obviously embarrassed, that she talked like that, while his hooded friends silently chuckled.

"Sorry, but it's the truth. Our instincts could never bring us this close to mobians – at least, not in such a short time. And besides,"

Her eyes, that never had left Kylie's face, softened. "I know this kind of look in your eyes. You don't grieve for friends. You grieve for _family_."

Everyone stilled upon hearing that and Kylie, who had just started to calm down, cried again pitifully

Shy sighed once more, plopped down on her knees and hugged the woman. She wasn't good at comforting at all, but at least that gesture helped her talk.

"He-he always threatened them, my family...so I would work for him... I-if he hears, that I...oh, God...," she wailed.

Rouge raised a brow and went over to Blaze, asking for the suitcase she still had in her hand.

"You know, you're kinda to blame for this mess. Why didn't you just go to GUN and be done with it?," Shy asked mercilessly.

"I couldn't. When I found out, that Tails is in danger, I just didn't think about GUN anymore. I just...came to rescue him, and the others.," Kylie sobbed.

Shy grimaced. "Once a mother, always a mother.," she thought. No mother could walk away from a child in need – if it was her own (species), or not. That was just great. Now, nobody could blame her – it had been an instinct, one of the few non-egoistical a human had. She didn't flee, or pretended, that it wasn't her business. She fought – for someone else."And I have to admire that, like it, or not.," Shy thought, but that didn't change the problem at hand – her family was done for.

"Say, Kylie, who is your family exactly?," Rouge suddenly asked, walking away from the open suitcase and towards Kylie. The woman looked up from behind Shy's shoulder and at the bat.

"I-I have a husband, Marc, a son, Alex, and a daughter, Vanessa. Why?" "And where are they living right now?," Rouge continued, not caring about her question. Kylie was so confused, that she gave her the address. "Anyone else?," Rouge inquired. Kylie shook her head.

"In this case...," Rouge lifted her right arm, around whose wrist had been clasped something, that looked like a complicated watch. It had to be one of the things Bryan and his men had confiscated from them after capturing the mobians. Kylie had simply put them in the suitcase to be out of sight. "You better cover your ears.," she advised, before pressing a button.

"GUN-HQ, do you copy? This is Agent Rouge speaking, ID number 3448769-TB.," she said with a clear voice.

Immediately, a booming voice answered, so loud, that a few birds flew away in a panic. "AGENT ROUGE, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? I AWAITED YOUR REPORT 38 DAYS AGO! IF I FIND OUT, THAT YOU WERE ON THE RUN WITH PROJECT SHADOW, I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL!"

While the others looked at her communicator, as if it could explode anytime now, Rouge only flopped her ears down to protect them against the volume, without looking in any form embarrassed or worried.

When the shouting finally subsided, Rouge grinned. "I'm also happy to hear your voice, Commander. Anyway, I'm currently in a case, on that I need to concentrate and because of that, I couldn't report until now. I need your help, though. I have a human family, father, son and daughter, who need personal protection." She gave him the address and the names. "Can you arrange that? I'll explain the circumstances later, with a full report."

It was silent for a while, the Commander was for sure checking the address. Rouge knew, that he would be on it, as soon, as he would find out, that she truly asked for the protection of humans.

"Got it. We will protect the family, but I await a full report, did I make myself clear?," the Commander finally said. "Crystal, sir. Rouge over and out." With that, she turned her communicator off.

"And...done. Now, we have one pro-" She interrupted herself, when Kylie suddenly hugged her. "Thank you, I can't thank you enough!," she sobbed.

"No worries, girl, I owe you for the rescue. So, let's say, we're even." Kylie let go of her and grinned. "Okay." She wiped her tears away.

"Why didn't you tell him, what's going on? I'm no fan of GUN, but they could be useful...this time.," the hooded figure, that was, according to his height, a mobian, stated.

"We need to hurry, as you might have noticed, and without the disk, it would take too long to convince him, ready the troops AND reach this Island. We are their best bet now.," Rouge replied.

Even if she managed to get Kylie over to the HQ, the Commander would expect a full explanation, names and stuff like that and this alone would take hours – time, they just didn't have.

"And how do you plan to do this? We need to get there and about 300 hedgehogs out. They won't be able to swim, they are malnourished and probably carrying, or drugged.," Kylie explained.

"About that...say, Knuckie, is it true, that this place here is always moving?," Rouge asked with a seductive smile.

Knuckles, who had blushed upon that nickname, cleared his throat. "That's...correct.," he said, still red around his snout.

"And you can control, where it goes to?" "Yes?" "Then we have our lifeboat!," Rouge said proudly.

Knuckles' jaw fell open. "Are you CRAZY!? This is a sacred island, not a vehicle!," he raged, once he had recovered.

As a guardian, he had to make sure, that nobody misused the island and its treasures – and this counted as such misuse in his eyes.

"Knuckles, please! We don't have another choice, or we wouldn't ask, you know that! Please, just once!," Tails pleaded, making puppy eyes. He knew, that Knuckles wasn't denying his help out of malice. But maybe his vow could be bent?

The guardian sighed. "Fine. To the ocean, I presume?," he growled. "Yes. But I don't know, how far away from the shore the Island is...," Kylie admitted.

"If I had the Tornado, I could find it...," Tails mumbled, but their house was too far away from Angel Island's last position and they didn't have time for a detour...

A light behind him let him jump. He turned around quickly and his eyes widened, when his desired plane suddenly stood in front of him. "H-how!?," he whispered.

"It's the right one, huh?," a slurred voice asked and he discovered next to the plane Shy, who leaned against it and seemed to sway a little.

"Woah, easy!," Mighty said and quickly went to the girl to grab her. Effortlessly, he lifted her up and carried her over to a tree to set her down to lean her against it.

"I-is everything alright?," Tails asked insecurely. "Don't worry, she simply used her powers too often in a row.," Mighty explained with a soothing smile.

"Just...how does she do this? How did she get my plane up here? And how did she know where it was?," Tails asked, having no explanation for this.

"Shy is an Elementar. This are people, who are able to call forth, use and control elements like fire, water, wind, etc. Shy's favorite is light. She can move at light speed for a short while, transform herself and others, objects as much as subjects, into light and transfer them to another place. Her relation with light also allows her to see auras, energies, that are surrounding us all the time. She only had to connect her own aura with yours and your home shone like a star for her. The rest was a simple teleportation and some light speed.," Mighty explained.

"Wow. That's how she got us up here, too, right? She connected her aura with Knuckles'!," Tails realized.

Mighty nodded. "Yeah, but she should have stopped after bringing us here, she had reached her limit. With bringing your plane, she overdid it and, well..." Mighty looked at the girl, that looked dumbly around and giggled for no apparent reason.

Tails turned towards Shy. "Thank you, this was very nice of you. Will you...be okay?," he asked insecure.

"Suuure, I'm apply!," the girl laughed, sounding almost drunk, considering, that she most likely meant _peachy_.

"Er, guys? A little help here?," Mighty called to his friends, who came closer, pushing Tails aside in the process, grabbed one arm of the girl each, forced her up and led her away, deeper in the forest.

"Sorry about that, they aren't used to...being nice.," Mighty apologized, embarrassed by their cold behavior towards his friend.

"No problem. Now, time to get the Tornado up in the air!.," the fox cheered, pumping his fist – and whimpering, when he felt the sprain.

"How about we treat your wounds beforehand?," Kylie asked, kneeling behind him and examining his wrist carefully. Tails sighed, but nodded.

* * *

Sonic sighed. He just woke up, with his eyes still closed and lying completely still – but the pointless game between Silver and John was still played. It was hard to say, what he hated more – this place, or the stupid game. On the other hand, it distracted Silver, and he was grateful for this. The less he was afraid, the better.

He suddenly felt fingers, carefully caressing and petting the thin fur on his ear, that wasn't pressed in his soft pillow, and a small purr escaped his throat. That felt great! He hadn't have something like that before, but he decided, that he liked it. Very much.

He opened his eyes to see, who did this to him and discovered black fur, in that he had pressed his nose.

He looked up and saw Shadow above him, looking a little shocked. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean, I-I didn't want to hurt your privacy-," Shadow quickly said, feeling caught in the act.

He just hadn't been able to resist, the ear, covered with little blue hairs, that formed a thin pelt on it, that had been flicking to each and every noise, mainly the snoring of Scourge and Silver's and John's voices, had looked too cute. He had had to touch it.

He had at first just touched the tip, softened by slightly thicker hair there, amusing himself with how the appendage would jerk, as if it tried to shoo his finger off, but then he had started to caress and pet it, as if it was a cat's. That had been, when Sonic had opened his eyes.

Oh, he felt so stupid! Sonic would think, that he was trying to make a move on him, hate him-!

The blue hero chuckled and interrupted the blabbering and his tormenting thoughts. "It's fine, it felt good.," he grinned and sat up. "In comparison to all that happened to me here so far, this had been the second best."

"Really? What was the best?," Shadow inquired, curious – and relieved, that his Sonic wasn't angry.

The blue hedgehog gently nuzzled him. "Meeting you.," he whispered, making the seme blush. Gently, he hugged his cute little uke, who he would never hurt, he promised himself that.

He wished, that he could tell him, how much he loved him – but he had to wait. Just, until they were free. Then, those three words would be the first ones he heard of him. That he vowed.

They were ripped out of their temporary closeness, when they heard Silver impatiently calling out for John to continue. Apparently, the human had stopped the game without a warning, leaving the young male to pout.

"Silver, I'm sure, that he will continue soon. There just came something up, that he couldn't postpone.," Mephiles soothed, petting his head. The youngest of the hedgehogs sighed. "Mephy? Can you play with me?," he asked with hope in his innocent eyes.

Mephiles paled – if that was possible, as he was already looking halfway dead. Playing this game? For...hours? Days? How much time had passed so far? It could be decades by now...

"I-I...er..." He shot glances over to Sonic and Shadow, asking wordlessly for help, not speaking it out, to not hurt Silver's feelings. Basically, he asked _them_ to hurt his feelings, so he wouldn't have to do it.

While Shadow wouldn't mind some 'I spy'-torture for his evil double, Sonic decided, that he couldn't stand this game ever again.

"I think, it would be unfair, if you play 'I spy' now, as Mephiles knows, what you have spied so far. There's no challenge, you know?," he explained, trying not to sound, as if he was eager to end the game for good.

"Oh..." Silver really seemed to understand that. "But...I don't know another game!," he admitted. Mephiles' face, that had lit up with hope after Sonic's words, crashed after Silver's.

Shadow had to bite his tongue to not laugh loudly. He had never thought, that he would see the coldblooded killer this desperate, it was hilarious! However, he was intelligent enough to only show little amusement – otherwise, the others would witness a murder. No matter how weak those collars made them – he knew better, than to underestimate Mephiles.

The villain was lucky, that Sonic wasn't interested in any more 'I spy'-madness and not giving up so fast. "How about I teach you a new game? You two could play it, until John has time again.," he suggested.

Silver's eyes seemed to glow with pure joy. "You would!? Really? Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He jumped up, ran to Sonic and threw himself quite literally in the blue one's arms, letting them both fall to the floor.

Sonic laughed upon that, even if his fall would have hurt, which wasn't the case, he couldn't help, but get infected with the young uke's happiness.

They stayed like this for a few seconds, before Silver sat up, allowing Sonic to do the same.

"What is this game?," he asked, his tail wagging. "It's called 'Twenty questions'.," Sonic explained, having instantly a captivated audience, meaning Silver and also Mephiles. As a creature of pure evil, games had never been on the dark one's agenda, but he would learn everything for Silver.

Sonic had just started with explaining the rules, when suddenly the cell door next to Fleetway, who jumped quite literally to the side, got ripped open and a pale and sweating John came rushing in, throwing the door shut.

He wore a white lab coat, that he hadn't worn before, had a plastic bag in one hand and a laptop under his other arm. The glass wall moved up, allowing John to enter, before moving down again.

"What's wrong!?," Sonic asked, alarmed. "I'll explain later!," John gasped, out of breath, looking around, as if he was hunted down, before he looked at the hedgehogs. "For now, I need you three semes over there, and you," he gestured first in a barely used corner of their cell and then to the ukes, "You just stay where you are, okay?"

He ran in the corner and pulled something out of the plastic bag. It was something long and black. Only when he pulled it on over his head, the mobians realized, that it had been a wig. With the long black hair, he looked, as if he tried to imitate Kylie – and somehow, Sonic had the feeling, that this was the plan.

He threw two high heels and a dress, that he got also out of the bag, on the floor, hid the bag under a blanket, shrugged off the lab coat and threw it next to the clothes, before diving under the blankets, so that only his face was visible. "Come on already! Hide me! And one of you must hide my laptop!," he urged the semes closer.

Still confused, the males complied, while Sonic, Silver and Scourge, who woke up because of the commotion, scooted closer to each other.

"Are they playing a game?," Silver asked, also confused. "Maybe.," Sonic replied, not sure, what this situation was and how he should explain it to the younger male. "We shouldn't interfere in any way, just in case.," he added. The other two ukes nodded.

Meanwhile, Shadow had wrapped himself in a blanket, so only his head was peeking out, while he sat in front of the human, effectively hiding John's rather small laptop and most of his face this way. Mephiles and Fleetway sat around him, hiding him from view.

They were just sitting for a good minute, when a voice boomed through the room, coming from Kylie's office behind the one way window. "Dr. Ellen, what is the meaning of this!?"

Sonic's quills raised. Perringten! He felt, how Scourge tensed next to him and subtly moved closer.

Silver whimpered in fear, recognizing the voice also. He grabbed Sonic's arm and buried his head in the other's side, seeking shelter. It took all of Mephiles' willpower to stay where he was and not to run to his uke and comfort him.

"Sir, I wasn't expecting you!," Shadow heard Kylie's voice behind him and he had to stop himself from turning around and looking at him.

"I see that. What are you doing there?" The malice in Perringten's voice let Sonic feel uneasy. Something was going on, but what?

"I'm...er...busy...," 'Kylie' explained. By now, Shadow figured, that John used Kylie's recorded voice to fool his father – he only hoped, that this worked, until he was satisfied. If not, they would be in REAL trouble.

"Busy!? I just got a call, that told me something really interesting about you..." Shadow believed, he heard John mumble something along the lines of "I'm dead.," before he let Kylie's voice answer. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this, sir. It's true, I love using semes for my own personal pleasure."

It became silent. While Sonic and Scourge looked at each other in shocked confusion and Silver was once again clueless, the semes had trouble to keep their faces straight. What was this idiot telling his bastard of a father!?

"Is...this all...you have to tell me?," Perringten asked, audibly taken aback. Like the hedgehogs in the cell, he obviously hadn't expected this. "Yes, sir.," 'Kylie' replied. "Very well. Just...use other semes next time." Perringten sounded slightly uncomfortable, or even disgusted, while he spoke out the last part.

"Yes, sir.," 'Kylie' answered, although it had sounded, as if Perringten had walked off after his last word.

Again, silence spread in the cell, until John sighed and pulled off his wig. "Okay, he's go-" He didn't got farther, as he suddenly had three pissed semes quite literally at his throat.

"What was this crap?," Fleetway seethed. "Do you think this is a joke, you bastard!?," Shadow growled lowly. "I...I can e-explain!," John wheezed, while trying to pry them off, without success. "You better, or you will regret it!," Mephiles hissed.

"Let him go, he can't tell us anything, if you kill him.," Sonic, standing behind them, said and surprisingly enough, all three males let the human go at the same time, although Mephiles had nothing to fear so far from the blue uke, like Fleetway, or tried to keep him happy, like Shadow.

Sonic walked towards the human, who was busy with gasping for air. "John, what happened?," he asked.

The young man took a few deep breaths, before answering. "A few minutes ago, my father got a call from oversea. I thought about Kylie, and hacked myself in their talk. Some pretty crazy guy called Bryan, or something like that, called my father to inform him about an incident in a place he called 'institute', in that Kylie had been the leader."

"What incident?," Sonic asked. "From what I heard, she 'freed all subjects'. Sorry, they always speak like that, in case someone listens in." Which was quite ironic, as he had been listening in.

"But why should Kylie do that? Why isn't she at GUN?," Scourge asked. "I have no idea. The only explanation I have, is, that someone here tries to sabotage Kylie, as she has the best paid job on the Island and asked a buddy from the dry land to lie for him."

Honestly, John didn't believe, that this was true – besides Kylie and himself, nobody ever had the courage to lie to his father. But it was better to just invent something believable, than being strangled again.

"I know this Bryan.," Sonic said suddenly. Shadow looked at him surprised, but grew instantly worried, when he noticed how Sonic's body language changed. His ears pressed to his skull, his quills raised again and the slightest of shivers went through him, showing his distress.

"He was the one Tails and Knuckles talked to. The one...who got me in this mess.," he explained quietly.

Shadow was quick to come to his side and place a hand on his shoulder, offering comfort. Sonic smiled and leaned closer to the other, thanking him wordlessly.

"Hm...anyway, that doesn't help explaining this call...," John shrugged, gulping, when he got a glare from Shadow for interrupting their moment.

"And Kylie's 'orientation'? Did you have to use this as an explanation?," Scourge asked, accusing. He wasn't sure, why it upset him – because he had said that in Silver's presence, and sooner or later he would for sure know, what it meant? Because it gave Kylie a bad reputation? Or because the mere thought had sent for a few seconds pretty wrong pictures of a certain light furred seme and the black haired woman in very wrong positions in his mind?

"To be honest – it was the perfect explanation, why she would be here and not be able to face him just yet.," John answered, snapping Scourge thankfully out of his thoughts.

"The perfect explanation?," Sonic repeated, not believing, what he just heard. "Yep. My colleagues here think since three years, that she, well, takes every mobian here at least once.," John explained in a neutral voice, while he stood up and stretched.

The semes, Sonic and Scourge looked absolutely grossed out, but not all of them, because they actually assumed, that the woman would ever do that. "Why would they think that?," Sonic asked disgusted.

"Apparently, she had turned some of her admirers down and they thought about an explanation. Their conclusion – she's mobiphil."

"She has just been faithful. She is married after all.," Sonic defended his friend. "Sonic, she's the only woman on an island full of men. It's pretty normal to have those dirty thoughts for my gender. Even I have believed some of those stories, until I met her personally. And she'll kill me for this move, even if it saved her.," he added with a sigh.

"You deserve it.," Sonic replied coldly. He didn't like it, that there were such rumors about his friend.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." John rolled his eyes and began to clean the mess he had made with the clothes.

Sonic watched him for a few seconds in thought, before a chill, going suddenly through him, let him turn around. While most of the other hedgehogs stood still like statues, trying to find out, what this feeling was, Silver stood as well, but his head was raised, although it didn't seem, as if he was looking at the ceiling, he rather appeared to see through it.

The five long quills on his forehead moved, although he stood perfectly still and there wasn't a possible chance for a breeze to come in the cell and ruffle them.

"Kylie's coming.," the silver uke said, so suddenly, that everyone flinched. He turned around and looked at Sonic. A smile appeared on his unusually pale lips. "She's here soon. Everything will be okay. Oh, and Mighty says hi."

Sonic's eyes widened. "M-Mighty!? Silver, how do you know that?," Sonic asked, completely confused.

The smile fell from Silver's face and he looked very tired at once. "I...don't know. But... it... it's true..." Before he could collapse, after uttering those words, Mephiles had already picked him up bridal style. Silver whimpered a little and snuggled weakly closer to the seme.

"Silver, how did you do this?," Mephiles asked, astounded. He hadn't known, that the little uke could do this and, from the looks of it, Silver hadn't known it, too.

"D-don't know...Mephy, my head hurts so bad...," the uke whimpered, tears running down his cheeks.

"You're too cold, too...," the dark seme mumbled, concerned. At once, two blankets, one coming from Sonic, the other from Scourge, were put over the silver male.

Mephiles thanked them with a nod and knelt on the ground, so he could set Silver on his legs and wrap him in the blankets properly.

"John, could you-?," Sonic started, but interrupted himself, when he didn't see the human anywhere.

"I already ordered something against headache and water. Or better – 'Kylie' did. It should be here in a few minutes.," John said via microphone and then turned it off.

Sonic turned away from the one way window and found, that he couldn't stop looking at Silver. How did he know the name of one of his oldest friends, about whom he hadn't thought in years?

"Sonic? Who is Mighty?," Shadow asked, having noticed how tense he suddenly looked. Was this Mighty an enemy?

"He's an old friend. But Silver couldn't have known anything about him... That's really strange." Sonic sighed and rubbed his head, that started to hurt. But if what he had said was true, was Kylie really on her way? And if so – would she return with Mighty? Or someone else?

* * *

10 minutes before, on Angel Island:

"It's not too tight, is it?," Kylie asked, while wrapping Tails' second tail tightly. As he planned on sitting in a small pilot seat, she couldn't try to find something cast-like for them, so tight bandages had to do for now.

However, she didn't want to cut off the blood flow completely, so she had to ask, if he was still feeling anything. She had done the same already with the other tail, but kept asking, just in case. Kylie had offered to wrap them together, so he had one big tail instead of two, but Tails had refused it and she had accepted that.

"No, it's okay, I still feel it.," the fox answered patiently, meaning his tail, while nibbling at the apple in his hand.

As they had been all hungry after their long imprisonment, Knuckles had given them some of his stored food. It was meant as a precaution for the harsh period of winter, as he wouldn't be able to descend his island and buy groceries during a snow storm and there was very little food on it during this season, but this was an emergency and it was still summer, so he could always replace what he lost now.

Tails wasn't this hungry, though. He was worried about his brother and best friend, especially after what he heard from Kylie earlier.

During the small silence after the woman's question and his answer, he made up his mind. "Kylie?" "Yes?," the woman replied, concentrated, but still able to listen.

"You said, that the hedgehogs on this Island are drugged, right?" "Yes. Why are you asking?" "Did they... Do they...drug Sonic, too?" "Yes. Also, before he got there."

Immediately, Tails' ears and tails perked and Kylie knew, that they were now getting to the point the fox had tried to reach.

"Before, too? How!? Sonic's immune to drugs!," Tails exclaimed. "Not, when they are mixed with his blood. Perringten used Eggman's knowledge in robotics to create a mosquito-sized robot, that would take Sonic's blood, mix a drug in it and inject it back.," Kylie explained.

Tails gulped, while he processed that. "That's...devious. He most likely let the robot spray a pheromone in the air, so other mosquito's, real ones, would come closer and hide it. Why didn't I think of it!?," he scolded himself, hitting his forehead with his fist, actually thinking, that he deserved the pain.

"Tails, it had been an extreme situation, you've been overwhelmed. Nobody's blaming you. See it like that – once this whole Island-nightmare is over, this, or something similar, can't happen again to you. You'll be warned and prepared and can react properly.," Kylie tried to soothe him.

Tails nodded and sniffed. She was right, the situation had been extreme, for all of them. Still, he felt guilty. He was so intelligent, why didn't he see this coming?

Kylie was done and gently turned the fox around. She saw the guilt still clouding his eyes and pulled him in a careful hug.

"Shh...it's okay. Nobody knows everything, Tails. There was no way you could foresee all that. You only wanted the best for Sonic and I can promise you, that he won't blame you for even a second for this mess. Okay?" Tails let out a small sob and trembled, but finally nodded. Kylie smiled, patted his head and let him go.

A bright light, shining suddenly not too far away from them, made them jump and turn around to the source, shielding their eyes.

When the light faded, three more persons were on the island – three children, to be precise. There were a mobian squirrel with yellow and peach fur, wearing a blue jacket and blue shoes, a mobian mouse, maybe eight years old, with white fur in a dirty orange dress and a human girl, maybe ten years old, with long, unkempt red hair in jeans and a t-shirt, that were dirty, too.

"Kylie! Kylie! Kylie!," the mouse cheered and skipped over to the surprised woman, to jump in her arms, that circled her on instinct.

"I'm so happy, that you're okay! I was so worried!" "Er...thank you?," Kylie replied, not sure, what else to say – why was this girl, who she had never seen before in her life, so happy to see her? And how did she know her name?

"He'll be so happy to hear that!," the mouse girl squeaked and let herself out of Kylie's arms. "Mighty!," she waved at the armadillo, who came closer. "I'm telling him now!" "That's great! Tell him, I said 'Hi'.," the older mobian smiled.

The little girl nodded and ran to the foot of the temple to perform some kind of stretching, with her thin arms raised as far above her head, as she could, while standing on her bare toes, before sinking in herself and then stretching again.

Knuckles, standing next to the Master Emerald, eyed her performance warily, but didn't do anything. It was a _child_ after all. The white bat, who seemed very close all the time to the gem stones, was another story...

"Who is this 'he'?," Kylie asked Mighty silently, so the mouse wouldn't hear her. "Don't know. It's better to play along with her, I learned that already. Spares you trouble.," the armadillo shrugged.

"And how does she know me?," Kylie asked further. "Sorry, I don't know that, too. She suddenly started to talk about a 'she' a little while ago and that we had to help you and stuff like that. Until our little rescue, I didn't know, it had been you she meant." "Were you there, because of her?," Tails asked. "Yep. When I heard, who exactly 'she' was saving, I had to come."

"How...does she do this?," Tails wondered, watching the strange girl doing her performance still. "If I tell you, I'll get skinned alive.," Mighty chuckled, before walking to the two remaining kids. "Hey, Ray, Kari. What are you doing here?," he asked friendly.

"Emma wanted to come. And Ray, too.," the human girl explained, pushing the squirrel in front of her defensively, as if trying to say: _Blame them, not me!_

"Is that so?" Mighty sounded amused. "Y-yeah. H-here..." Shyly, the boy gave him a little bag. "I-I f-found one. A-all a-alone.," he said, stuttering. "You did?," Mighty asked, looking in the bag. "Where was it?," he added. "I-In a b-b-bird's n-nest...w-wasn't h-happy I t-took i-it...," Ray explained.

Mighty grinned. "You bet it wasn't.," he said and ruffled the younger one's hair. "Good job!" Ray beamed with pride and almost skipped along next to Mighty, who went over to Knuckles. "Hey, Knux, catch!" The echidna was quick to catch the bag his friend threw at him.

His eyes widened, when he felt a familiar energy radiating from it. He opened it – and really, there were the missing three Emeralds! "Where did you get them?," he asked, speechless. "Two of them were in the possession of two of my friends and the third was found by Ray." He ruffled the boy's hair again, making him smile and blush deeply with joy. "Thanks, Ray. Good job.," Knuckles praised, making the boy giggle.

Knuckles held the open bag up and the three Chaos Emeralds floated up and joined their brothers on the pillars.

He frowned, when the air started to smell faintly salty. "Tails, we've reached the ocean!," he called over.

"On it!," the fox shouted, ate quickly the apple and then climbed in his plane, wincing a little, when he had moved his injured body parts too fast.

"Please be careful, I have no idea, what Perringten does in the security-department, you know?," Kylie warned.

"Don't worry, I was useless in the Uke Institute – but in my Tornado, nobody can match me!," Tails grinned – and suddenly, he disappeared. "I...er...," Kylie stuttered, overwhelmed. "Great, right? I built in this invisibility device a few months ago! Now, I'm undetectable!," the fox's voice said out of the blue – literally. He seemed much happier now, as he was finally able to do something.

"That's great, but MAYBE, you should wait with this, until you took off?," Kylie advised with a small smile. "Oh. Right..." The blushing Tails got visible again and started the engine, allowing everyone to step out of the way, while he took off.

"Won't it look suspicious, if this island flies above the Island?," Kylie asked carefully Knuckles. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot the invisibility cloak of Angel Island in the other shrine.," the echidna hissed angrily.

"No worries, Shy can take care of that-" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" "-as soon, as she has made mincemeat out of her sisters. Excuse me.," the armadillo grinned and went over to the three girls, Ray behind him.

Emma had just finished whatever she had done and was now cowering behind the girl named Kari, who was trembling in fear in front of their older sister Shy. The Elementar was back to normal. It didn't seem though, as if they were fearing for their lives, rather for the punishment a child had to await from its parents for staying outside too long after sunset.

The teenager turned around and spotted Mighty. "YOU!" As predicted, Shy directed her anger immediately towards the only one not related to her – though Kari and Emma both weren't her relatives by blood. "You let them stay!?," Shy seethed at him.

"Emma insisted on...something.," Mighty explained calmly. "And if she insists on jumping off a bridge, would you let her!?," Shy hissed.

Mighty sighed. Here they went again... "Of course not. Look, they came here on their own, they will make it back on their own, too." "You bet they will! Kari, Emma, Ray, back with you!," Shy ordered.

"Why?," the three whined. "Because I said so.," was everything Shy offered her sisters and the boy. "Ray, that is still a little too much for you. It's nice of you all to try and help, but this isn't your league, yet. One day it will be, okay?," Mighty said gently.

"Okay.," all three children said, before Kari took them back with Shy's ability. As she was a copy cat, imitating others' powers was easy for her.

"You always have to steal them away, huh?," Shy muttered, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She had trouble with dealing with children, but that didn't stop her from having two sisters. However, Mighty was better with convincing them to do stuff and it made Shy pretty jealous.

"Sorry." It was better to apologize, Mighty knew that much, although it wasn't exactly his fault, that Shy was this cold to the children. "If you don't mind, could you hide the island?," he asked carefully. "Sure." The girl just shrugged and fog started to surround the island.

"Where does the fog come from, all of a sudden?," Kylie asked amazed. "I created it by changing the air temperature around the island." "Those powers are really impressive.," Kylie stated.

"Wanna know, how I got them?," Shy asked, a challenge in her voice. "Not right now, I won't be able to acknowledge your story fully, as worried, as I am. We postpone it a little, okay, sweetheart?," Kylie replied gently and went back to the suitcase, that lay forgotten on the ground. "Hm, I like her.," Shy grinned.

Mighty just rolled his eyes. Of course she did, Shy liked everyone, who wasn't nosy. When he had answered the same question a few years ago with _Yes_ , he had been in for hell – for three weeks.

* * *

Tails watched the many lights blinking in front of him. He knew, that all the instruments built in the Tornado would find the hideout. Now, he just had to wait and be patient. Hard to do so, when you can't wait to see your brother again...

"Hang on, Sonic. Just a little bit longer. I promise, this time, I'll save YOU!," he thought, while adjusting the sensors to his current height.

* * *

Sonic jumped. "Is something the matter?," Shadow next to him asked silently, to not wake Silver, who finally fell asleep after taking the medicine John had managed to get him. "No, I just thought, I heard something.," the blue hedgehog answered in a whisper.

Shadow raised a brow. This cell was soundproof, they had never heard anything outside of it, until the doors had opened. What did Sonic thought he heard?

"I'm not delusional, or crazy.," Sonic deadpanned, who could already imagine, that Shadow would start to think that. "Of course not!," the seme quickly said and Sonic allowed him to hug him. Still, he was SURE, that he had heard a voice, a voice he knew.

But maybe it was just the tension. Since Silver's strange 'forecast', everyone seemed on edge. They felt, that something big would happen, but it wasn't clear, if it would be a good, or a bad thing...

* * *

"Got you!," Tails thought with a smirk, after hours of searching, while he was silently and invisibly flying. He couldn't see anything under him in the sea, but his instruments told him, that there was something.

From the looks of it, this Perringten used a machine, that was camouflaging the whole Island, at least for planes or anything else, that flew above it. It was, as if a giant umbrella was held above the whole Island. You could only see it from the ocean, and even then, there had to be some more protection.

Not wanting to take any risk, he decided to fly in low circles around the Island and check for hidden weapons. He wouldn't lead his friends in another trap.

At first, nothing unusual appeared on his sensors, but then, he was now nearly touching the water, his sensors went haywire from different signals. Before he could try to find out what it was, he suddenly felt a searing pain in one of his tails. He cried out, but bit back any other reactions and quickly pulled up, until he was a safe distance away, before he examined the hurt appendage.

Its tip's fur was black and his flesh under the fur looked burned. A hidden laser, maybe? Another smirk appeared on his face. Bad mistake to reveal those weapons to his instruments, so he could hack in them. This was too easy for him.

* * *

"Sir! There was something on one of the cameras!," a man of his security-personnel told Perringten via his mobile, while he was in his office, trying to find out, who was lying – Kylie or Bryan. Upon hearing that, he forgot about it.

"On the monitor!," he ordered and pressed a button under the desk, which caused the desktop to turn and reveal a laptop on it. A picture was on the screen, a very blurry image of something...yellow and white.

"If you informed me because of a seagull, I will have your head!," Perringten growled and hung up, but then he paused. What if this wasn't a stupid bird? What if...this was actually a problem? He frowned and then dialed. He had worked too hard to let anything stop him now. "Perringten here. Get number 300 ready.," he said in the mobile. And he hung up.

* * *

In Kylie's office, John frowned, after listening in to this little conversation. As far, as he was concerned, Sonic with the number 299 had been the last captured hedgehog. Who the heck was number 300?! And why should he 'get ready'?

* * *

Tails landed smoothly on Angel Island, that he had found without a problem, even though it resembled a giant cloud. There weren't many clouds, that had a light green hue in them, coming from the Master Emerald.

"I disabled the weapons, we can now go to the Island, without getting shot!," he explained, while jumping out of the Tornado. He cringed, once he had landed. Ow, he forgot his injuries! "Seems, like that's already too late for you..." Kylie got immediately ready to treat the laser burn. Tails sighed, but let her. An infection was the last thing they needed.

"So we just go there and knock? Yeah, I see them totally opening the door.," Knuckles growled, while Tails got treated.

"Don't forget, that nearly everyone there has a weapon with him. I'm not sure, if they're all just loaded with sedative darts, though...," Kylie explained, while wrapping the cleaned wound.

"Then it's good for you, that we're still here.," Shy said. She and the other two, who still wore their hoods, stood next to each other, a little away from the others. Mighty joined them. "We're experts of dodging bullets. So, I would suggest, that we split up..."

"Who made you the boss here, huh?," Amy asked angrily. "Oooh, what do you suggest, then?," Shy asked, a dangerous shine in her cold eyes.

"Er...what were you saying!?," Mighty quickly said, sensing, that Shy wasn't too far away from hurting someone.

"Hm? Oh, right. Anyway, I suggest, that Kylie, the fox and Scythe go in the building and bust the hedgehogs out..."

"Scythe?," Knuckles interrupted. The taller hooded figure pulled the hood down and revealed the head of a female hedgehog with obviously blunted quills. But...she was too tall, she was almost twice as tall, as Sonic! Her fur was olive green and her eyes brown. She pulled out a metal stick, that turned with one quick movement of her hand to a giant scythe, explaining her name.

"Wouldn't it be too obvious, if I had two mobians with me?," Kylie asked, careful to not upset Shy.

"Not two mobians.," Scythe said, her voice calm and surprisingly deep. In front of their eyes, she changed: her fur went in her light skin, she grew a few more centimeters, her features became...human.

In mere minutes, a human woman with blond hair and blue eyes stood there. "A human, who captured a mobian.," she smirked, while finishing her sentence. "Scythe's a shapeshifter.," Mighty explained. "I can simply pretend to be a human and keep an eye on you.," the former hedgehog added.

"Oh...okay...er...there's just a little problem. I'm the only woman on the Island...," Kylie explained. "You're kidding." Scythe raised a brow. "No.," Kylie smiled embarrassed. "Fine, but I WON'T change in the lower department, got it!?," she hissed and marched away. "She needs some time to turn herself male, she hates to do this.," Shy shrugged.

"Okay, while you free the prisoners, me, the cat and Pinky over there-," Amy gritted her teeth in frustration upon hearing that degrading nickname for her, "-will cause havoc in the lower floors, while Mighty does the same in the higher floors. We will reduce the number of problems. The echidna will keep an eye on the rescued ones, as well as our lifeboat, together with the bat and Blush. You two will do this mostly in the air, to have a better overview."

"Is that so? Do I have to carry you?," Rouge asked the last hooded figure, who Shy had obviously meant and who started to laugh, before pulling the hood completely off.

It revealed a girl in a red dress with yellow feelers on her head, that was covered with short brown hair. Her complete body was covered with shining microscopic scales, in black mostly, but in a pale white on her face, in that shone two blue stunning eyes. Behind her, large wings, covered with deep red and black mini-scales, opened themselves, telling everyone, what she was – a butterfly mobian. "Maybe I should carry you.," the girl smirked coldly.

"Alright, ladies, cut it out! We have hedgehogs to rescue." Shy clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention back to her.

"Now, once you, the fox and Scythe are inside the building, you have ten minutes, until we start our attacks – and showing this island here openly. Hell will break loose for sure, and it will become harder and harder to get everyone out. We won't most likely be able to communicate, so each group and mostly every person is on his or her own. Who doesn't want to risk his butt, should step out now." Her eyes wandered around the group, but she couldn't see the slightest trace of doubt in any face. She grinned. "Fine. Don't say, I didn't warn you."

* * *

Perringten had never thought, that it would be necessary to place guards in front of any of the outside doors – unless there was something happening, like the delivery of goods or the transport of the hedgehogs – therefore, Tails only had to freeze the pictures of the surveillance cameras, that threatened to see them, in order to reach the Island undetected.

With the Tornado – much to Kylie's horror, Scythe had to fly on its wing, as there wasn't a third seat – they landed on a rather small sandbank only a few feet away from the beach, that surrounded the huge building.

Once they had landed, Scythe pulled Kylie out and jumped with the protesting woman over her shoulder on the dry beach, leaving Tails to wade through the water, that reached, at the deepest point, up to his chest. His bandaged appendages were soaked through and his burnt tail stung a little, due to the salt water, but it was manageable.

"It would have been too obvious, if we all had been wet. But a wet mobian looks like a castaway.," Scythe explained her miffed companions, once the fox was also on the beach.

She looked at a small watch she wore tightly around her wrist. "We have seven minutes to save them. Give me your lab coat." Kylie was surprised, but obeyed.

Scythe put on the garment and closed her eyes. Again she changed, this time to a tall young human man with short brown hair and black eyes. Her clothes had disappeared, but weren't replaced. Now, she only had the lab coat to cover her. Somehow, Kylie was glad, that she had asked for the coat beforehand.

"Now, let's go." Scythe grabbed the surprised fox on the unharmed wrist and dragged him closer to the building. Soon after, Tails fell into step, together with Kylie next to them. They had to play captive and captor for a little while.

Together, they entered the building, Tails' hidden 'Miles Electric' erased the two mobians for the cameras, so that it looked, as if Kylie was walking alone through the hallways.

Only a few seconds passed, until Tails heard the first guard coming closer and started to struggle lightly, so their act was convincing.

A human man with a gun in his hand rounded the corner in front of them and looked at the trio confused. "Dr. Ellen, I didn't expect you here! What's this?" He pointed at the fox with his gun, who shivered, when he remembered the situation with Bryan.

"A subject, that got somehow through the protective measures. I have been asked to heal it and bring it in a cell.," the woman answered with a cold voice, that she used by now without thinking about it.

The man looked her up and down and a quite perverted grin etched itself on his face. "I see...well, then don't let me stop you, go ahead – and have fun!" He waved and went away.

"W-what was the meaning of this?," Tails asked. "Don't know...let's just continue, we need to go three floors down, the next elevator isn't too far away.," Kylie replied, although she started to get an idea, from what this came...

They continued their journey and soon met another guard. This one wasn't quite as decent, as the other.

"Ah, Dr. Ellen. Seems like you finally got tired of the semes, huh?," he smirked and maybe it was her imagination, but...was he drooling?

Kylie froze momentarily, but managed to stammer something along the lines of "Y-yes, i-indeed...," before he left them, also with a huge grin.

"Care to elaborate?," Scythe asked, once he was gone, with an amused smirk. The woman growled. "YES! I will commit a murder! Soon!," she snapped and marched away, the other two hurrying after her.

Luckily, the elevator was just around the next corner and they could step in it, without getting stopped again. Kylie used the short ride to calm down again, though when they reached the desired floor and cell, she snarled at the guards, "Out of my way!".

The men quickly let them pass, too startled to ask, what she was doing there with the mobian in tow.

The door fell shut and they stood squeezed between it and the glass wall. Five pairs of eyes on its other side were looking at them, the emerald green pair as big as saucers. "T-Tails?"

* * *

Tails couldn't help the tears, that gathered in his eyes upon seeing Sonic. But not out of pity, although this would have been understandable – he was so thin, his fur had been shaved off at places, there was dried blood in it and relatively fresh wounds on him and he looked weak – no, he cried out of joy.

He was THERE!

He was ALIVE!

"Sonic..." The choked out word was everything Sonic needed to zip over to the wall and to press his face and hands against the glass, like Tails did on the other side.

Sonic had noticed immediately, how thin and dirty the younger was, his bandaged tails and wrist and the look of pure desperation in his eyes, that got replaced by hope and joy, while he looked in them.

* * *

Kylie's anger dissipated, while she watched the heart-warming scene and she slipped silently out – the men in front of the cell jumping back in fear, as if she was a wildcat, ready to attack – and she walked over to her office, opening the door.

To her surprise, John was inside, but his eyes were glued to the monitor of his computer, too distracted, to notice her passing by and pressing the button, that would lift the glass wall and allow the brothers to finally meet, after nearly three weeks of separation.

She watched them hug each other tightly, as if the world would end, if they let go, before she turned to John. "What are you-?"

"Is there a number 300?," John interrupted her and turned to face her. His eyes were red from looking at the screen for too long without blinking. "What?" "A hedgehog with the number 300, is there one?," John urged. "How am I supposed to know?," Kylie asked surprised.

"As far as I know it, Sonic's the last addition of my father's collection...," John mumbled, having returned his attention back to the monitor. Suddenly, he jumped up. "I need to check something!," he exclaimed. And off he was, leaving his computer behind.

Kylie just shook her head. And everyone said, that women were complicated! She sighed and went back to the cell, the guards quickly letting her pass again.

* * *

"Tails, what are you doing here?" Once Sonic had been absolutely sure, that Tails was real and not simply a fantasy of his stressed out brain, he had to ask. "I-I had to come. Once Kylie told us, what happened here, how could I not?," Tails sobbed, nuzzling in Sonic's shoulder.

"What happened to your tails?," Sonic asked with empathy. "B-Bryan, he-he broke them. We tried to break out, but he stopped us..."

Sonic, with a slight hesitation, brought him out of his arms, took his shoulders in his hands and looked him in the puffy blue eyes. "Break out? Tails, what happened?," he asked, concerned.

Shakily, Tails began to tell their story of getting captured and escaping. Sonic and – after hearing Rouge's name in his tale, too – Shadow listened with increasing horror, while Scourge and Fleetway didn't show any emotion.

Mephiles was just glad, that Silver didn't have to hear, what his sister Blaze had been through. The silver male was still in a deep slumber and maybe it was better, if it stayed like that, until they were safe.

"If Kylie didn't come and then Mighty and his friends, we would be dead.," Tails ended his story, just when Kylie came back.

Sonic locked eyes with her. "Thank you, I owe you, a lot.," he said solemnly. Kylie smiled and shook her head. "Forget it, it was the least I could do. And I alone didn't even succeed."

"Yeah, yeah, that's all VERY touching. Can we go now?," Scourge asked impatiently, itching to be free again, now, that they were closer to it, than ever.

"Sure. Tails, can you open the collars?" Sonic gestured to the still collared semes. "Er... maybe, if I can look at one a little closer...," Tails said, insecure. "Shadow, do you mind?," Sonic asked.

Shadow shrugged and went closer to the fox, kneeling down so he could see the collar easily – and his lower body half wasn't that close to the child. He was _naked_ after all.

"Hm..." Tails looked at the collar with interest. "It has an electronic lock, I should be able to hack into it...," he mumbled, taking out his Miles Electric and pressing a few buttons.

Soon, three small clicks echoed in the room and the semes took the collars off, slightly speechless, that the child actually did this.

"Great work, buddy!," Sonic praised. Tails smiled, but had to blink his tears away, he had missed these words. "Think, you can find out, where the other hedgehogs are right now?," Sonic asked further, not planning on leaving them behind. Scourge didn't object upon hearing that, although he grew visibly more impatient.

"Without a computer, that's connected with this Island's network, it would take me too long...," Tails said sadly, knowing, that the others would attack soon and make any rescuing more difficult, if not close to impossible.

"John left his computer in the other room, it has such a connection...," Kylie explained, nodding in the direction of the one way window.

"Out of my way." A tall hedgehog girl, who nobody of the male hedgehogs had seen coming in, walked towards the window, pulling out a metal stick, that had been hidden under the too big lab coat she wore and transformed it with one fluid movement in a giant scythe.

She gave the other persons in the room less than five seconds, before she used the weapon to shatter the glass.

Sonic protected Tails against the flying glass with his body, as did Mephiles with Silver, while the others looked out for themselves, but they didn't have to fear anything. The scythe had broken the glass close to powder, which meant, that the girl wielding it was WAY stronger, than she looked. And she couldn't be much older than Silver!

Without hesitation, the girl jumped through the created hole and on the desk behind it, jumped from it and found easily her target, John's still working laptop.

She picked it up, just when the door opened and the door guards, who usually stood in front of the cell door, came running in.

The cell was soundproof – the office wasn't, the noise had alarmed them. "You there! Hold it ri-" He never came to end his sentence.

With quick movements, Scythe sat down the laptop, grabbed her weapon and cut the two humans in halves.

Sonic quickly shielded Tails' eyes against this scenario, not wanting his brother to see such a murder. Luckily, the blue hero's reflexes were almost as quick as always.

Scythe just put her scythe away and grabbed the computer, before returning in the cell and handing the machine to the fox, blocking his view of the office – and the blood staining the walls, as the desk alone was enough to hide the bodies from view.

"Thanks." Tails was distracted by the new piece of work and immediately started to hack in the system, trying to find a map.

"There! I found some cells, but some are really big, and others rather small...," he explained, confused.

"Er...guys?," Fleetway asked, just to be ignored.

"The semes are locked up in single cells, the ukes in bigger ones.," Kylie explained, looking over his shoulder at the plan, that showed the skeleton of the building, over and under the ground.

"Guys?," Scourge now tried it, again without anyone acknowledging it.

"But maybe they are also somewhere else. Can you er...tell me, where they are in particular?," Kylie asked Tails, not sure, if she was asking for something difficult, or impossible.

"Sure!," Tails replied and in a few seconds, she saw the collar numbers blinking in different places.

"As I thought, some are in the maternity ward, some are experimented on, but nobody's on paradise anymore for today...wait – didn't Shy tell Mighty to take the higher floors!?," she asked, alarmed.

"Yeah...why?" "He's male, meaning a threat – and he has to come across the the maternity ward! The pregnant ukes are prone to stress, the last thing we need is premature births to the dozens!," Kylie exclaimed.

How could she forget, where the ward was!? She was so stupid! But, she hadn't been there, since Sonic got out of it...

"Guys?," both, Scourge and Fleetway said, just to be ignored again.

"How long, until they attack?," Tails asked Scythe, who looked at her watch. "Strange. They should have started already – and we would have noticed that, believe me.," she said, slightly confused.

"Did they get spotted and in trouble?," Tails asked. Scythe showed a cruel smile. "Forget it. There isn't one problem in the universe, that they wouldn't get solved. No, there is another reason, I'm sure of it."

"GUYS!," Scourge and Fleetway finally shouted and the others, fed up, returned an annoyed, "WHAT!?"

"We have a problem." Scourge pointed to Shadow, who still knelt on the ground, in the same place, where he knelt down for Tails earlier. He was shaking and his body was... glowing red!?

"Shadow!" At once, Sonic was kneeling in front of his love. "Shadow, what's wrong!?," he asked, but the seme didn't answer, he seemed too distracted with his condition.

"Shadow is preparing for the Chaos Blast, from the looks of it.," Mephiles said then. As he had once stolen Shadow's shadow, he knew a lot about him, including his basic attacks. "The what? What is that?," Sonic urged.

"It's a giant blast of energy, enough, to wipe out a city." "What!? Why should he do that now?"

"His limiter rings are missing. As far as I know it, he needs to remove them beforehand to start this attack. Maybe it's the other way round and this attack unleashes, once his rings are gone...," Mephiles shrugged. He wasn't too interested in the matter, he could always bring himself and Silver to safety, that was all, that counted for him.

"But, he didn't do that, until-!" Sonic stopped and quickly grabbed Shadow's collar, that had been lying beside him. Everything had been alright, until it got loose.

"Sorry.," he mumbled and as gently as he could, placed the collar back in place. Just after the lock had clicked shut, the light faded and Shadow seemed to take his first breath since about ten minutes. "Better?," Sonic asked worried. "Yeah. Thanks.," Shadow smiled and stood up.

Meanwhile, Tails watched his brother curiously. He knew how Sonic looked, when he cared for someone, no matter if stranger, barely known, well known or best friend/brother. This... was a new behavior. But that wasn't the time, or place, to discuss the topic.

"Don't thank me for putting a collar on you.," Sonic mumbled and turned to his brother. "Tails, can you find out, where Shadow's rings are? I don't want him wearing this thing any longer."

"Er...sure!" Quickly, Tails went to work, shaking off his musings. "I found a room, which is called 'Trash_Clothing', nothing else. I guess, they threw all your stuff in there.," he explained a few minutes later. "Great work in finding it! Where is it?" "On this floor, five doors away."

"Alright, let's get out of here!," Sonic said, helping Shadow with walking, who had yet to recover from the almost Chaos Blast.

They left the unguarded cell, Scythe being the last, looking at her watch again. She really would like to know, why the others had a delay of more than ten minutes now.

* * *

About twenty minutes earlier, on Angel Island:

"Interesting. So it's the gem, that lets this Island float.," Blaze remarked, while Angel Island was slowly descending.

Knuckles had started, after Tails' departure with Scythe and Kylie, to pull the Master away from its place, but not completely, so the island wouldn't crash down, but sink slowly.

Once on the water, he would keep the gem close to himself and, depending on the situation, either put it back in the temple to let the island float again, or use its power to let it move like a boat and quickly return to dry land. He would decide, when they got all the hedgehogs out.

"Huh?" A – by now – familiar light brightened the island and when he turned around from the temple and the Master, there stood three, also familiar, persons.

"YOU AGAIN!," Shy shouted at the three children, who all ducked away a little upon her rage. "DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO GO!? YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW, THAT 'GOING' MEANS STAYING WHERE YOU WENT!" A lot of birds flew away upon hearing her scream.

"Shy, calm down, you know, that they wouldn't appear here for no reason!," Mighty told her, trying to keep her calm.

"Keep talking and I will burn you to ash 'for no reason'!," she hissed, but marched a few feet away, allowing the armadillo to come closer and the frightened children to relax this way.

"Hello again. What are you doing here?," he asked patiently. "I need to tell you something, it's veryveryveryVERY important!," Emma squeaked, clinging to Mighty's wrist. "Please!," she added.

"Alright, tell me.," Mighty said. "You can't attack the upper floors! You just can't! There are pregnant males, you can harm them! They get... pre...pre...something! To the dozen!," Emma shouted, but she couldn't repeat everything she heard.

"How do you know that?," Mighty asked. The question, although he knew its answer for years now, just didn't seem able to stop making its way in his mind.

"Kylie will say it, in a few minutes!," the girl insisted. "Okay. Did she...er...WILL she...or someone else...say something more?," he asked carefully.

"Er..." Emma frowned in concentration, trying to see more of the future. As she had never trained her power in earnest, there would most likely nothing come out of-

Emma's scream, that pierced everyone's eardrums and nearly caused Knuckles to let the Master fall, let Mighty's musings shatter.

Shy was quickly at her side, holding her shoulders and shaking her. "Emma, Emma, snap out of it! What did you see!?," she shouted.

At least her voice reached the girl and she stopped screaming, but she only buried her face in her sister's arms and cried. "Please, please, don't let him!," she whimpered.

Shy knew, that she wouldn't get more out of the girl, when she was like that. She gently pried her off and Kari, already used to this, took over to be Emma's 'shoulder to lean on'. "Off you go.," Shy said, and this time, the children just obeyed.

"Shy, can you tone it down and stop letting the sea boil? You know how much I hate my scales getting wet!," Blush said suddenly, making the others look at her. She had just landed, after having been in the air for quite some time. "What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything to the water!," Shy stated, annoyed.

"Then what is?" Rouge, after hearing this, took off to the sky, to see, what Blush had seen. Her eyes widened.

All around the Island, besides where they stood over it on Angel Island, the saltwater was moving. It looked at first, as if it was boiling, but the bat quickly realized, that this wasn't the case. There was something surfacing. Something big, or many things. Or both. She wasn't sure, if it was a good thing.

She landed quickly. "We're getting company!," she explained. "Great, just what we need.," Shy grumbled. "Land this stupid rock finally! We need to check out the newcomers!," she snapped at Knuckles, who only grumbled and complied, not in the mood to fight with her. This was getting more complicated, than they all had thought.

* * *

FINALLY! This chapter took forever! Not the writing (well, I didn't have Internet for a week, so this was all I could do during my free time...), but the editing.

I'm at least for one week already on it, checking the chapter again and again in fear, that I have forgotten something.

I had trouble with the last chapter because of that and had a hard time to find and replace my mistakes, that's, why I was double checking everything.

Hope it was worth it and you enjoyed the chapter!

Also, hope you had a nice Easter!


	16. Number 300

I'm so sorry I let you wait for a month! Writer's block was with me again and I have a lot going on right now. Sorry about that, I try to hurry with the next chapter, promise.

* * *

 **16: Number 300**

Out of breath, John watched the numbers on the display in the elevator counting down. In his head, he tried to understand, what he had found out recently.

Not only was there a secret underground level 11 – until now, he had thought, that they only had 10 floors under the ground – no, this mysterious number 300 was there, too! But why should his father cage a hedgehog so deep under the surface? And why didn't he hear, that this hedgehog got captured? Usually, news like this spread like a wildfire around here...

The floor -11 was a mystery in itself, now, that he thought about it. There wasn't even a single clue about what happened there, he had found out about its existence by a mere coincidence, while browsing through some files. The button in the elevator to this floor hadn't been visible, it had taken him two minutes of running his fingers over the metal walls to find it opposite the panel with the other buttons. You only found it, if you knew of its position – or searched for it in all possible and impossible places. Seriously – who would EVER search for this stupid thing anywhere else, than close to the others? It was a good thing, that John had learned to think out of the box, when it came to his father's methods. Didn't solve the riddle about number 300, though...

The elevator reached the floor -11, making him look up, when it stopped, and the doors opened. John looked carefully around, but couldn't see any kind of guard. Strange, but not unwelcome.

The hallway wasn't really one, it was only a small space between the door of the elevator and another door opposite of it, on which someone had painted a giant white _Z._ John cocked an eye brow, but ignored it for now. He discovered an electronic lock next to the door and cursed, as he had forgotten his laptop in Kylie's office.

The young man was just about to turn around and get this stupid piece of technology, when he remembered something, that let him stop. He had hacked into several rather important and personal documents and files of his father, that had been locked away with codes. And as he had quickly found out, it was always the same code, that Jester used. It were eight numbers and it didn't take John too long to realize, that it was a date, that was about 40 years in the past. He didn't know, why this date was so important for his father, but maybe it was also the right code for this door?

He typed it in, careful not to make a mistake, as he wasn't sure, how many he could make, before the lock would block itself and he needed a special code to unlock the block for more tries.

Finishing with the last number, the signs on the small rectangular display vanished for a second, before the relieving words 'ACCESS GRANTED' flashed on it and the door slid open.

John congratulated himself silently, before stepping in. He took a look around – and his jaw fell. What the hell was this!?

He stood in the middle of a staircase, that led down on his left and up on his right, giving him an overview over the giant – definitely bigger than on the map – hall. On his left was a giant complicated looking machine, whose purpose he couldn't even begin to imagine, as it was completely closed with metal, allowing not one peek inside. The thing – whatever it was – was silent and most likely turned off. He could see a bit of the floor behind the railing of the staircase and saw a large array of tubes laying there and leading away from it to the middle part of the hall.

In front of him was an army of different machines, connected with the tubes and with clear round glass containers in their middles, almost as large as he himself, filled with a strange, faintly red liquid. And maybe it was his imagination, but there seemed to be something swimming in those containers...

Before he could even try to descend the stairs and take a closer look, something hit him in the back of his head, so hard, that he tumbled over, hit his forehead against the railing and fell instantly in blackness.

* * *

"So much for offspring. I knew, that you would be a disappointment after all.," Jester Perringten grumbled, wiped the tip of his walking stick off on his lab coat, took it properly in his hand and turned to walk up the stairs to the laboratory there, from that he had come, when he had noticed the intruder. Leaving the unconscious body of his son carelessly on the stairs.

He reached the laboratory again and went to a computer. Its monitor was blinking almost excitedly. He looked at the vitals displayed on the screen and grinned upon seeing the fast heartbeat and pulse there. A small rectangular window in the bottom left corner showed 91% in green. "Can't wait, huh? Alright then, time for your first order.," he mumbled, a smile, that didn't reach his eyes at all, on his colorless lips.

He was well aware of the fact, that his precious prisoners weren't anymore, where they should be. Since he had seen the blurry picture of the 'seagull', he had told his men to tell him about everything unusual they noticed – and not too long ago, one of the guards had told him, that he had seen Dr. Ellen with a foreign man and a two-tailed fox with yellow-white fur. A short research had confirmed his suspicion – the unique fox belonged to number 299's friends. He was disappointed, that he couldn't trust Dr. Ellen, who he saw as more reliable, than his son, but this occasion gave him the perfect opportunity to test his invention's abilities.

As number 300, his created life form, wasn't the most intelligent creature yet, he had to formulate each order he planned to give it in the future carefully. It would follow his words directly, so 'Kill them all' as an order wouldn't do – he needed his personnel still.

Therefore, he chose a more complex formulated command. "Eliminate all leaders you find besides me and if someone helps them – kill them, too.," he spoke in the microphone next to the computer, that would reach the whole hall in front of the lab. Of course, he thought about Dr. Ellen with this order. There was no way, that the hedgehogs would dare to take the lead, if there was a human to do so.

The faster heartbeat, registered by the machines of the lab, told him, that number 300 had listened and would obey. By typing in some codes, he drained the fluid of the first container, unlocked it, let it open and watched through the window in the wall, how the dripping wet figure stumbled out and fell on its hands and knees. It wasn't used to walking just yet, but Perringten knew, that his brain was giving him all necessary information for movements and general knowledge in these very seconds.

"What are you waiting for?," Perringten asked impatiently, when about 30 seconds had passed and the creature hadn't moved from the spot. He blinked, and number 300 was gone. A cruel smirk appeared on his face. Now, he only needed to sit back and enjoy the show. He left the lab, ignored his son on the floor again and went in the elevator.

* * *

"I don't think, that it's something worrying. As far as I can tell it, it's simple exhaustion. He'll sleep it off.," Kylie explained, gently patting Silver's head.

They had reached the room Tails had told them about and were now in it. In the room was a mountain of clothes, belonging to all the hedgehogs here, carelessly thrown there. While Shadow, Scourge and Fleetway had to dig through the garments, mainly gloves and shoes, but also some others, like scarves, or jackets, Sonic and Mephiles were done quicker. Sonic, because his clothes had been on top, as he had been the last captured hedgehog and Mephiles, because his 'clothes' weren't exactly some.

As he had copied Shadow's complete appearance, when he had stolen his shadow, he had transformed his skin into the look of his clothing. Only later, after deciding to keep this appearance, he had shed his transformed skin around his hands and feet, so it acted like real clothing – a good move, now that he thought about it, as the humans had otherwise skinned him alive, to some extent at least. As his clothes were still part of his body, they had immediately attached to it, once he had stepped in the room, giving him time to ask Kylie to take a look at Silver.

Mephiles thanked the woman for her diagnosis with a nod and pulled the blankets around Silver closer, as his body temperature was still a little low.

"Finally back in my old jacket!," Scourge cheered and straightened the black piece of clothing, that he had just put on. Flame prints were on the long sleeves. He had also found his shoes, in green and black, and red shades, that he had put on his head.

"Well, our taste in clothing is definitely not the same.," Sonic grinned, looking at the green hedgehog.

"Definitely.," Scourge replied with a smirk. "But I can't say the same about Fleet." He nodded over to the light seme, who just finished putting on his shoes, that looked like Sonic's, just the tips were longer and more narrow. His white gloves and socks were torn, as if he had had a fight, before he had gotten kidnapped. His style really looked like Sonic's, but neither of the two looked keen on mentioning it.

A small _click!_ let them all look over to Shadow, who just took off his collar. Now, golden rings were around his wrists and ankles, he wore white gloves, that looked a little different from Sonic's and on his feet were high technical rocket shoes.

"Thank you.," the dark agent thanked Tails, who had freed him off the collar and now just smiled at his brother's love, before Shadow smashed the collar against a wall, effectively destroying it.

"Now, that that's done, how about we take a leave? I'd like some fresh air for a change.," Scourge announced and turned to leave.

It was fast, too fast for anyone to really register, what had happened. Suddenly, they all heard Scourge cry out and when they turned around to him, they saw him collapse and his blood splatter everywhere.

"SCOURGE!," Fleetway and Sonic cried out and quickly ran over to him, Kylie not far behind them. The green uke was trembling, four seemingly deep cuts were on his chest, two were over his scars and had reopened them. Blood was pooling under him, while he lay on his side.

"Scourge? Scourge, say something!," Fleetway urged, but the green hedgehog didn't move.

"Who was this?," Sonic asked and looked around, but there was no one in the room besides them and the door had never opened. Besides, Scythe had promised to wait in front of the door...

As if on cue, the door opened and the hedgehog girl looked in the room. "What happened?," she asked, overseeing the injured male and the two at his side.

Fleetway jumped up, ran over to the girl, grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her so close, that their noses touched. "That you dare to ask! Where were you!? How could this happen!?," Fleetway hissed, his eyes glowing.

Unimpressed, Scythe pried his hand off her, flipped him against the wall and kept his arms behind his back with one hand. "Listen here, drama queen: first, this isn't a lethal wound. Second: I WAS all the time in front of the door and killed some guards. Nothing and nobody did come past me, not even a drop of blood. So blame yourself, got it?" Her voice had become colder with each word to the point it was a surprise, that she didn't freeze Fleetway with it.

"Stop it, you two. We don't have time for this! Scythe, pass me my lab coat, please. Sonic, here, press this on the wounds and keep as much pressure on them, as you can – but be careful! We don't want to break his ribs, after all."

While Scythe and Fleetway had had their little 'conversation', Kylie had grabbed the cleanest garments she could find, knelt next to Sonic and Scourge, turned the green uke carefully on his back and examined the wounds. Scythe was right – the wounds were painful, but neither lethal, nor so deep, that they had to fear disfiguring or disabling scars. Sonic took the two scarves and a handful gloves Kylie had offered to him and pressed them down on the cuts.

Fleetway, after Scythe had released him, knelt down and helped Sonic, while the girl shrugged off the coat and gave it Kylie. The woman attempted to rip it into stripes, but the material wouldn't budge.

"Kylie, use my quills.," Sonic said suddenly, he had seen, what she had tried to do, said appendages already rising up for better access. "Huh?" "Those quills cut through metal, a piece of cloth is nothing against this.," Sonic grinned, although his eyes were still trained on the unconscious Scourge.

"Okay..." Kylie turned the coat upside down, held it, so that it was under one of the blue bottom quills and pulled it up, cutting the fabric. In mere minutes, she had created an improvised bandage, with that she dressed Scourge's wounds, while Sonic and Fleetway held him up. When she was finally done, Fleetway took him in his arms, holding him carefully, as if he was out of glass.

Sonic only allowed him carrying Scourge, because he had to carry Tails and Kylie. Whatever this thing had been, that had attacked Scourge, they knew, that it would return, so they had to move.

"How do we get out of here?," Sonic asked Kylie. "There's an elevator, not too far away from your former cell, just in the other direction."

"Isn't there a staircase?," Sonic sighed. He had hoped to run a little longer, than just a few hundred meters.

"No. The security measures here are a nightmare.," Kylie replied. In case of a fire, an elevator wasn't the best way to try and escape...

"Doesn't matter. Let's go!" At once, Sonic had grabbed Tails and the surprised Kylie, carrying the woman on his arms, while the fox was on his back, used to this kind of traveling.

A quick look around told him, that everyone else was ready to go and a grin, that he almost thought had been forgotten, edged itself on his face. "Let's do it to it!"

* * *

The guards, that had been sent to look for their colleagues on the floor -3, were met with quite strange pictures.

Not only did they found the bodies of the two guards of cell C in Dr. Ellen's empty office and the cell itself empty, too, no, before they could report their findings, they heard a loud screeching sound, sounding like a woman's scream in a horror movie.

Turning in the direction of the sound, they saw a blue spiral, going round and around the hallway, going around them easily and past them – and they heard twin shouts of "Yaahooo!" accompanying the spiral and the scream.

Just after this strange occurrence, three hedgehogs, two of them carrying another hedgehog each, ran past them, just slow enough to identify them as hedgehogs.

This was all they saw, before the last of the group, Scythe, helped them meet their maker for good.

* * *

Tremblingly, Kylie leaned against the wall of the elevator, while it moved up. She had lost all color and turned a little green. Her stomach and throat hurt from Sonic running in spirals through the hallways, which had kept her screaming. "What's the matter, can't handle the speed?," Sonic grinned up at her.

With a little difficulty, they had all squeezed at once in the small cabin of the elevator and he stood now directly in front of her and Tails in the corner.

"Can't. Handle. The SPEED!?," the woman hissed and grabbed his ear, pulling it just enough to create pain, but not enough to alert Shadow's protective instincts – though she didn't miss his glare in the corner of her eyes.

"Do this again, Sonic, and I'm taking this ear as a hostage! Did I make myself clear!?," she growled, tugging a little harder, but still careful.

"Okay, okay, let go!," Sonic whined, though childish enough to keep Shadow relaxed. Tails chuckled, while Kylie let go.

"Impressive. We are still in the lion's den and you have the nerve to joke around.," Scythe remarked, though she didn't seem annoyed, rather pleased.

Luckily, they arrived in this moment and spared everyone the need to answer. Before Kylie could react, Sonic had grabbed her and Tails again and raced out the door – thankfully, without making spirals through the hallways. Kylie still screamed like before, though.

They reached the front door, through that Kylie, Tails and Scythe had entered and Sonic stopped, after he had passed it.

Kylie, noticing that he had stopped, opened her eyes she had kept tightly closed – and her jaw dropped. "What the-!?"

* * *

Ten minutes ago:

Angel Island landed smoothly in the water, its shore building a line with the Island's. Knuckles took the Master with him to join the others at the island's edge to see, what was going on in the water.

When he arrived, the Island was surrounded by dark blue painted submarines. Some were showing their sides, on that were the large letters G, U and N painted in white. GUN! But how did they know of this place?

"I should have known it. He DID put a damn location device in my communicator.," Rouge next to him growled and shook her wrist with the communicator, as if the device she thought there would make a noise and reveal itself this way. It didn't.

While they watched, a lot of armed soldiers came out of the submarines, pooling on the beach and, as it was filled pretty quickly and they needed a little space to the door to aim properly at whoever would come out, on the submarines as well.

Rouge, knowing how many men fit in there, could guess, that others were just waiting for the first ones to enter, before going out as well. Spotting a familiar figure with gray hair and an impressive height, the bat took off and darted over to the man, the others staying where they were, not keen on getting guns directed at them.

"Commander Towers!," Rouge called and landed in front of the human, who stood on the tip of one of the submarines like a king looking down on his kingdom.

"Agent Rouge, why am I not surprised to see you here?," the human replied. His face didn't betray the slightest emotion – one of the reasons, why Rouge didn't trust him.

"I couldn't say the same thing. I'm pretty surprised to see you here, considering you have no coordinates of this place...," Rouge replied with a sweet voice, but at the same time she was high on guard, trying to find any lie in his answer.

"I have the coordinates, I got the information from a...civilian, just before you called." As usual, Towers was as talkative as Shadow. Hard to believe, that they couldn't stand each other.

"Who was this civilian?," Rouge asked, not having missed Tower's small pause before mentioning this person. This could only mean, that the 'civilian' wasn't one at all, but the Commander didn't have any idea, how to describe the person better without giving too much information.

Before the human had the chance to answer – if he would even answer the question of a simple agent like her – the sea next to Angel Island started bubbling again and a giant robot emerged from the water, until it reached only its hip.

Amy's and Knuckles' jaws dropped, when they saw and recognized the pilot in the transparent chest of the metallic monster. "EGGMAN!?," they exclaimed.

"Towers, you could have waited for me!," Eggman complained, while Bokkun darted in his cockpit around, as if he was an over sized bumblebee, that had too much sugar. He wore a small jet pack on his back again, though it had certainly seen better days. "Kylie! Where's Kylie? Is Kylie okay? Is Kylie hurt!?," he chirped worriedly. Bocoe and Decoe tried to catch him, most likely, so he wouldn't disturb their creator.

Knuckles raised a brow. The giant robot, as well as the two robotic assistants, looked horrible! Dented in countless places, their metallic hull here and there broken, fixed quickly, but not with the utmost care. As if the doctor had to do it in a few minutes and with shabby material.

He himself also wasn't in the best condition of his life. He was bruised, battered and full of scratches and dust, also, his nose looked broken and his glasses had cracks and small pieces of the glass were missing.

"What are you doing here? I thought, you were dead!," Amy called over. Eggman let his robot turn around to the friends. "Who said that?," he asked with a raised brow. "Bokkun. He said, that you were shot!"

Eggman looked sharply at the still rambling Bokkun, before turning back to Amy. "I wasn't shot, this guy only killed a clone I had created. I never trusted this Jester Perringten and knew, that he would betray me. I just couldn't foresee, that this lunatic would blow up my whole lair!," he shouted, slamming a fist on his instrument panel. "It took me days to crawl out of the debris and almost two weeks to fix one of my robots enough to leave this damn island!," he added, growling.

"The Doctor nearly starved!," Bocoe added dramatically, earning himself a glare from said man. "Luckily, we found some food in the food storage.," Decoe helped his colleague, before shrinking back himself under his creator's glare.

"Anyway, after I had finally managed to get to dry land, I looked for Bokkun, as I got his signal from there. Took me a while to find him, this woman has dragged him along quite a bit. I found him and he had some interesting things to tell and also some disk with him. After seeing, what was on it, I handed it to GUN." "After we got thrown out of this electric store for using a TV and a DVD-player without permission.," Decoe added, earning another scowl from his master.

"YOU are Tower's source?" Rouge flew in front of Eggman's cockpit and kept standing there in the air, her wings fluttering to keep her on his eye level. "Why should _you_ of all people help these hedgehogs?," she asked with narrowed eyes. Everybody knew, that he hated Sonic with a passion, after all.

"I'll tell you the same I told Towers. I would do ANYTHING to foil this bastard's plans. This guy is ruining my bad reputation by creating a worse one!," Eggman replied angrily.

Well, this was a good enough explanation, though Rouge was sure, that there was more to this. She knew, when somebody wasn't telling the whole truth – no matter, how long she knew the person already.

"KYLIE!" Bokkun interrupted the talk by crashing the glass of the cockpit. "Bokkun! How am I supposed to submerge again like this!?," Eggman shouted after him, while the little robot flew to the group, that stood stunned outside the door, that led in the building.

* * *

Sonic slowly let Kylie and Tails down, maneuvering his brother more behind him in the process. He had immediately seen the many guns directed to them and was therefore more careful. He wasn't in the best form of his life, so dodging bullets wasn't something he was keen on trying, especially, when Kylie, Tails and the others, who had just arrived, were in danger of getting hit.

"KYLIE!" The woman nearly got thrown to the floor, when she got tackled in a bruising hug by a crying familiar robot. It really wasn't nice to get hugged by something out of metal, she knew that now – not, that she had been keen on finding it out in the first place.

"Bokkun, you're hurting me!," Kylie groaned and finally, the robot let go. "You forgot me!," he accused with tears in his eyes, looking up at her. Kylie grimaced in embarrassment. Oh dear...she really had, until he had hugged her just a second ago. "I'm sorry, Bokkun, I promise, it won't happen again, okay?," the woman said gently, patting his head. "O-okay...," Bokkun sniffed.

"Agent Shadow!" Kylie looked up, when she heard that and saw a tall man moving through the crowd of armed soldiers towards them. Somehow, Towers had managed to come down from the submarine quick enough to now walk towards the hedgehogs. Rouge saw the look of pure satisfaction on his face and quickly flew to him, knowing, what he would do next.

"Agent Shadow, you are hereby under arrest for murder and association with three wanted criminals...make that four.," he corrected himself. Before Shadow could wonder, what he meant, a voice behind him mocked, "Such flattery, Commander? I'm almost stunned." It was Scythe, who leaned casually in the door frame, not at all bothered by the blood dripping from the scythe on her back. Towers scowled at her attitude. "I have enough of this! Arrest the-!"

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Faster, than even she herself had expected it, Kylie was in Towers' face. "Listen closely, I don't know, what you're doing here, but obviously you don't know, what this place is about! All hedgehogs here are VICTIMS! And Scythe is one of the heroes, who infiltrated this place to get the prisoners out, while you were busy filling the beach with your soldiers to boost your ego, instead of letting them do something helpful! Now, unless you are going to be of ANY use, shut up!"

Shadow's jaw dropped. Kylie had just challenged the head of the mightiest military organization there was!

"The hedgehogs, you say?" At once, Towers grabbed her wrist tightly. "Meaning, you are one of the culprits, yes?," he hissed.

Kylie ripped her wrist out of his grip. "YES! But don't you DARE to arrest me, before I get all hedgehogs out of this hellhole and in proper medicinal care! Have you even informed any hospitals?"

"I-" Towers was taken aback – and Kylie could be proud, there weren't many, who managed to achieve this. "You there." Kylie turned quickly to one of the soldiers, who flinched, because of the sudden movement. "Can you radio the dry land?" "Y-yes...?" "Good. Then do it. Inform all hospitals you can reach, we're talking about almost 300 hedgehogs. They shall prepare for traumatized, drugged, malnourished, aggressive and carrying patients. And you others, move!"

She addressed the other soldiers with her last sentence and made a gesture as if parting the sea. The soldiers quickly shuffled around and formed a quite broad way, that led straight to Angel Island.

"Fleetway, Mephiles, bring Silver and Scourge to Angel Island. Try to find some shelter, so they don't get too cold..."

"Shy can do that." Scythe nodded over to the human girl, who still stood like the others on Angel Island, observing the situation. "Could you ask her? The ukes will need a shelter and they have to be separated from the semes." "Sure thing."

"I rather pass. I don't trust those guys one bit.," Fleetway growled, eyeing the uniformed men. Mephiles could only nod in agreement. Who told them, that the soldiers wouldn't jump and arrest them, while they were trying to get through? Surrounding them in a situation like that was too easy for them.

"Man up. You don't wear your collars anymore, so you can fight back and if it helps, you have my allowance to put them in their place, should they try something. Now, go!," Kylie growled and pointed to the island, talking with them, as if they were two little children, that refused to listen.

Scythe snickered upon that and ran through the army, while the two semes followed, hot on her heels. Nobody tried anything. Kylie watched, how the hedgehog girl reached Shy and talked with her for a minute.

Shy looked finally up, locked eyes with the woman and then raised her hand to show a thumbs up. She waved to the two semes and they followed her deeper in the jungle of the island.

Knuckles followed them, most likely to make sure, that they kept away from any holy buildings he watched over and Blaze did so, too, her eyes visibly glued to Silver.

"Good." Kylie breathed in relief, before turning to the soldiers again. "Are there any females among you?" The men – as far, as she could tell, they were all male – looked at each other insecure. "A little faster, if I may ask, gentlemen, we don't have time for this!," Kylie shouted angrily, making some of the men flinch.

"Er...h-here!" Out of the submarine on her right climbed five female soldiers. Surprisingly, one of them was a mobian, a wolf with gray fur and blue eyes. They hurried over to her, stopped a meter in front of Kylie and saluted. "Ma'am!," they said in unison.

"Figures, that a dick like him has about 0.5 percent women in his army.," Kylie thought sarcastically. "Alright, did any of you ever have a medicinal training?," she asked the females out loud. Two, a woman with red hair and freckles and a slightly younger girl with light brown hair, nodded.

"Okay. Tails." The fox flinched a little, when he was addressed so suddenly. "You still have the laptop, right? Can you try to tell me, where the hedgehogs are? And if they are semes or ukes?"

"Er...s-sure..." Quickly, Tails went to work, not keen on seeing, what Kylie would do, if he slacked. She was slightly scary right now.

"I got it!," he gasped out only two minutes later, his fingertips hurting badly from the quick typing. It was a little miracle, that the keyboard didn't catch fire. "Great work. Then tell me.," Kylie asked.

"There are about thirty ukes on the tenth floor, fifty in a big cell on the second, two dozens in a room called Ex_3 on the sixth floor and the others on the third and ninth floor in so called 'wards'. The semes are either in cells on the second underground floor, or in an underground lab on the floor -5."

"Thank you. Amy, Blush, Rouge! Can you come over here?," Kylie called to the island, although the bat was already next to her. A little confused, the two other girls complied, Mighty accompanying them, just in case – he didn't trust those GUN-soldiers either.

"Sonic!" Amy was quick to run over to her hero and throw herself in his arms. "I'm so glad you're okay!," she sobbed.

"It's alright, Amy, I'm sorry for worrying you." Sonic gently patted her head, while Shadow had to bite back a growl. Although Sonic didn't show ANY interest in her as a mate, he couldn't help, but feel jealous. Still, he could imagine, that Sonic wouldn't appreciate it, if he pulled them simply apart.

"What's up?," Blush asked Kylie, ignoring Shadow, Amy and Sonic. "I don't think, that we can follow Shy's plan. We need to get the hedgehogs out quickly, something attacked us and might do it again. Can you as females free the ukes? They're on the ninth floor, most likely experimented on, on the third floor in a ward, on the sixth floor in Ex_3 and in a cell on the second floor. They will be afraid of you, but as you aren't male, they will trust you easier. I will take over the maternity ward in the tenth floor with them." She pointed to the female soldiers behind her.

"Got it.," Shy said, having joined the others just a second ago with Scythe, while the others they had in tow weren't anywhere to be seen. They had been listening to Kylie's final words and let Blush fill them in about what they missed.

"Can you take over the semes?," Kylie asked Towers, who seemed stuck in his own little world, just staring at her.

Kylie sighed. "So much for the 'Commander'. Shadow, can you take his place?" The hedgehog looked at her. "What?," the dark hedgehog asked, surprised to be addressed and that Kylie had the guts to replace Towers with him, while said human was close enough to hear it.

"Just tell them where to go. Make sure they don't drive the semes in a corner and everything should be fine.," the woman shrugged.

Before Shadow could answer to that, Kylie heard a scream and then felt a push, that threw her in the group of male soldiers.

Quickly recovering – and slapping the man, who caught her by accidentally grabbing her breast – she turned around and looked for the culprit. Her eyes snapped open. "Sonic!"

* * *

While Kylie had been busy with giving instructions, Sonic had pried Amy off, who started to tell him something, most likely the same tale he had heard from Tails. He didn't listen to it anyway.

His quills rose and he had all of a sudden the feeling, that something was close by, watching them. He looked around the whole place, but he couldn't find the reason for this feeling, that got stronger by the second.

Suddenly, something in him snapped and he whirled around to see a dark shadow moving fast, faster than the naked eye, towards the unsuspecting Kylie, who was just finishing with talking to Shadow.

"KYLIE!" He sprinted towards her and pushed her out of the way, before the thing could reach her.

Just a second later, a hand closed tightly around his neck and his feet lost all contact to the ground. "Sonic!," he heard Kylie scream somewhere under him.

Slowly, Sonic opened his eyes, that he had scrunched up before, to see the attacker and he felt something in his stomach turn, when he looked in...nothing. Instead of eyes, the creature, that held him, had only two holes in its skull, covered with unhealthy gray skin.

It looked like a male mobian hedgehog, with quills fawned out like Shadow's, but the tips were pointing straight away from his back. He had dark blue fur and the number 300 had been burnt in the right half of his chest, the flesh still angry and red. He didn't wear any clothing and his mimic was bare of any emotion. Somehow, he could stand in the air with ease.

"LET HIM GO!," Shadow roared, but he couldn't do anything, as long as Sonic was so close to this...thing – and as long as they were out of his reach.

"Finally. What took you so long?" Everyone stilled upon hearing Perringten's voice. It seemed to come from speakers hidden in the building's wall.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Dr. Ellen. You're nothing but a traitor. Though I admit it, I'm impressed, that you hid in a mass of people to confuse my creation's senses temporarily. How did you know of number 300 anyway?," he asked, mildly impressed.

Kylie turned pale. "The attack on Scourge! This was also this thing, right!? What...what is this?," she shouted, as there wasn't a face to the voice, at the complex.

"As I said, my creation. I created number 300 out of number 299's and 125's blood – and improved him! He is indestructible, absolutely obedient and absolutely efficient. You are as good as dead!," Perringten laughed. Sonic looked again at his captor. This was out of his and Shadow's blood!?

"People like you give villains like me a bad name!," Eggman piped up, hitting the instrument panel again.

Perringten just chuckled. "Number 300, new order.," he simply said. The creature's head snapped up and to attention. "Collect in the ukes and semes, that managed to escape, but alive – and kill everyone else you feel outside the building." The creature nodded mutely and its grip on Sonic's throat tightened.

Sonic grunted in pain and screwed his eyes shut again. He clawed at the unforgiving hand and struggled to breathe. This number 300 obviously tried to make him black out from the loss of oxygen – and if he didn't think about something quick, it would succeed! Already, his mind started to swim and his limbs felt heavier...

He frowned confused, when unwanted voices made their way in his head, replaying dialogues of the past for him to hear.

" _Like...Sonic the Hedgehog? The hero?" "Pretty pathetic, huh?"_

" _Yeah. It was pretty easy. He simply had to drug you secretly again and again to cause the 'typical' symptoms a nervous uke would show, like less appetite, sleep problems, fear, emotionalism..."_

" _Oh, and I'm sure Kylie hasn't told you yet – you're even now drugged, in this cell. It's mixed with the air and only has an effect on you. Before, it was given to you through your collar..."_

His eyes snapped open, when realization hit him. He wasn't in the cell anymore. He wasn't drugged anymore. A grin appeared on his face.

He was back to normal.

He was back to being a hero.

He. Was. Back!

He quickly let his body relax, faking unconsciousness to the blind creature, who lessened its grip, as it wasn't allowed to kill him. Sonic used the slack, he twisted his body and delivered a hard kick to the other hedgehog's head, causing him to let him go and be momentarily stunned.

"Mighty!," Sonic called out while he was falling and the armadillo didn't hesitate. He caught Sonic, so that he was standing on his hand – even with his usual weight, he wouldn't weigh more than a fly for the strong mobian – before drawing it back and throwing his friend at the still recovering number 300 with full force.

Mighty and Sonic had fought too often together to need explanations, the armadillo had seen from the way how Sonic had fallen, what he had planned to do.

So it was no surprise, that the artificial hedgehog got hit by a strong Spin Dash out of their combined powers, that threw him straight into the building, creating a giant dent. Sonic landed under the point, where he had hit him and coughed, the temporary loss of oxygen catching up to him.

Shadow was instantly at his side. "Are you going to be okay?," he asked, worried, though he was also impressed. Seeing Sonic in a real fight had been really a sight to remember.

"I'll live.," Sonic replied, stood up and looked over to number 300, who peeled himself out of the dent. The cuts on his body knitted themselves together, until there were no wounds anymore. His bones cracked, while they were returning to their previous positions and fusing together again. Emerald eyes narrowed at this. He was a tough one, huh?

"Kylie, go with the others and free the prisoners! I'm taking over this fake!," Sonic shouted to her. Kylie needed a second to process that, before she nodded.

"Please, be careful!," she begged, before she waved the females around her to go inside, using the opportunity, as long as they had it, with the artificial creature still recovering. "But...Sonic!," Amy started to protest. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. But those hedgehogs need our help. You heard it, they won't trust males!," Rouge told her and dragged her with her inside, the others following, calling to each other, which floor they would take.

"Tails, you go with them, too!," Sonic continued. Tails swallowed. If Sonic didn't want him in a fight, it meant, that it was very dangerous. He bit his lip, but nodded and turned around to follow the girls, not without a 'Good luck!' for his brother and the others.

Kylie was just about to enter with the female soldiers, telling the wolf to stay away from the pregnant males and take care of the human men, who would be there, when she heard a voice behind her.

"Men, we will also go in! You there will accompany the women, arrest every human being you meet and help the hedgehogs out and to this island over there! You others will go in the underground levels, arrest every human and get out every prisoner there you find! Be careful and don't pressure those hedgehogs!," Towers ordered, separating his men on the beach into two groups.

"YES SIR!," the men replied and moved towards the building. "The others in the submarines will hold this thing off of the fleeing hedgehogs!," Towers ordered further, one of the men on the beach giving the order via communicator to the soldiers in the giant vehicles.

Kylie smirked, happy, that he wasn't shocked anymore and _finally_ started being helpful, before she slipped in the building, seeing, that the soldiers were already close and about to enter it as well.

Only the female soldiers and Tails were still waiting in the hallway she stood in now, the others had most likely already taken the elevator.

"There are other elevators, just down the hallway!," Tails explained, looking on the map. He looked up and flinched upon seeing a dozen of security men, who blocked the way he had meant, their guns pointed at them and ready to shoot.

"Don't hurt Kylie!" Bokkun shot forward from behind the woman and jumped in the mass of men, kicking and hitting everyone he reached. He was shot several times by the guards, but the bullets didn't damage his metal skin.

In less than a minute, the guards lay groaning on the floor. A few soldiers ran to them and started to arrest them. "Let's go!," Kylie said and they moved past them, she praised Bokkun with a quick pat on the head. The robot giggled and followed her.

They reached the elevator without any more interruptions and stepped in with one of the male soldiers, who managed to squeeze in with the females, Tails and the robot.

Kylie told the male soldier to stay out of the maternity ward and Bokkun, to be very careful with the pregnant ukes, as he wasn't out of organic material and could accidentally hurt them. As he was acting like a child, he wouldn't scare them, she estimated.

She hoped dearly, that they could bring them out in one piece – and that Sonic and Shadow had everything under control out there.

* * *

"I don't think so!" Mighty blocked the attack directed to him and grabbed the bare fist of the attacker to throw him against the building again, but number 300 just disappeared and appeared a few meters away from him in the air.

"Mighty!" Sonic spindashed towards him, knowing, that the armadillo would remember where to kick him to get him to the enemy – and how to not cut his leg off in the process.

Mighty did just this, but the artificial hedgehog moved quickly out of the way, before Sonic reached him and hit the blue ball from the side, throwing him right into the sea.

"SONIC!," Shadow and Mighty shouted, knowing full well, that their blue friend couldn't swim.

Before they could jump in and after him, though, he already emerged again, kneeling on a gigantic robot hand, that hovered above the waves. Coughing, he took deep breaths. "Thanks, Egghead!," he called over, once he had recovered.

The hand he stood on really belonged to the egg-shaped man, his robot's arm had extended about twice its length to reach the hedgehog in time. "Think nothing of it, we'll be enemies again soon enough!," Eggman replied with an uncaring shrug.

From afar, number 300 followed the exchange between the human and the mobian, his eyeless face scrunched up in confusion. _Why?_

In less than a second, he was in front of the fat human, who jumped because of the sudden appearance. "What!? Do I have something in my face!?," Eggman growled at the blind creature, when it didn't do anything besides 'staring'.

"Please, don't make it mad!," Bocoe whimpered, he and Decoe were cowering behind their creator's chair, trembling. They were horrified, to say the least, as they couldn't foresee, what the thing would do next.

Number 300 seemed to watch the doctor, study him even, his head cocked to the side, as if he was truly confused. "Stop standing in my eyesight finally! Shoo!" Angrily, Eggman waved at the hedgehog, as if trying to scare a fly off.

The creature raised its arm, that started to glow in a green light. "Watch out!," Shadow called, just when the other attacked. The Chaos Spears, Shadow didn't need to see the attack properly to know, what it was, hit the robot and caused it to explode, creating a giant cloud of smoke.

Shadow whipped over to the still outstretched hand, knowing, that it would crumble soon, but Sonic wasn't on it anymore. "SONIC!?"

A big object shot suddenly out of the cloud of smoke that had been the robot and landed on the beach. Shadow saw a speck of blue in between the colors of the 'object' and raced over. After he arrived, he saw the human called Eggman on his back with two robots on him and a blue hedgehog buried under them, struggling to free himself.

Quickly, Shadow grabbed Sonic and pulled him out and up on his feet. "Phew, thanks, Shads. Good thing, I'm usually faster. If he would sit just once on me, I'd be dead.," Sonic grinned and stretched to remove the stiffness in his back.

"Sonic, what were you thinking? You could have died!," Shadow growled, feeling the urge to scold him.

Said hedgehog looked at him unimpressed. "That you see wrong. Remember? This number 300 was ordered to keep us alive, so he won't kill me. Eggman doesn't have this much luck, so I intervened.," he grinned.

Shadow stared at him in wonder. Even in a situation like this, he still did think about everyone else first?

"Watch out!," Mighty suddenly called and they both jumped just in time away, before the artificial hedgehog got smashed in the ground next to Eggman. Sonic looked up from where he lay now to where he had been and saw a bright yellow glowing Fleetway standing in the air, his face contorted in pure rage and hatred. The red swirls in his eyes were glowing, too, making the white in between them look just slightly lighter than the lines themselves.

"Stand up!," he snarled at the unmoving creature in the small crater the impact had caused. "Stand up, so I can kill you! You will pay for what you did to Scourge!" The light coming from the seme was intensifying.

Fleetway had just wanted to look at the commotion he had heard from their hideout, to make sure, that Scourge wasn't going to be in danger anytime soon – and then, he had smelt it. Scourge's blood. On this thing's claws.

He didn't know, how exactly he came into the air without wings or something like that – but right now, he couldn't care less. He only wanted to rip this thing to shreds, again and again, until it was dead.

Number 300 twitched after the shout and stood up, a shadow on its face. It just stood there, not moving an inch, while its injuries healed like before.

"Aim, men!," Towers' voice boomed suddenly and all soldiers on the submarines aimed at the artificial creature – and it wasn't Shadow for a change.

"Hey, Eggman's in the way, you could hit him!," Sonic shouted, realizing, that some of the soldiers would hurt the villain, too. Not, that his shout was helping in that matter, he was simply ignored.

Towers had a _collateral damage happens_ -attitude and therefore, he gladly sacrificed everyone to achieve his goals, besides himself. He was probably glad even, to wipe out two problems at once.

Sonic heard Mighty growl, before he ran past the hedgehog, picked up Eggman – and unintentionally his robots, too – and made a mad dash to Angel Island, Sonic and Shadow following him. Luckily, the soldiers didn't shoot them, they were solely focused on number 300.

Putting some distance between Angel Island's shoreline and himself, Mighty went in the woods, effectively shielding them against any stray bullets. He kept walking, obviously knowing, where he went.

Just a few minutes later, they reached a clearing, on that stood a hut out of stone, that Sonic had never seen before during all his runs around the island. It was a simple hut, with a rectangular hole for the door and smaller ones as windows. It was very long, too, capable of housing hundreds of beings, which was most likely the plan.

"What are you doing here?," Knuckles asked, coming with Mephiles and a violet cat out of the hut. "I know Shy and I know Angel Island. I could imagine, where she would put up a shelter for the ukes.," Mighty shrugged and placed Eggman and his robots more or less carefully down, but outside the hut. After the yellow hedgehog's display of power, he wouldn't dare to place a villain in his uke's range. They had enough problems.

"So, what's going on there?," Knuckles asked. As he had made sure until now, that nobody of the mobians around him tried to steal the Emeralds, he had to ask.

"Kylie, the girls, Tails and Bokkun are freeing the prisoners with a part of GUN, the other part is just aiming at Perringten's new creation. It's quite a challenge, I must say.," Sonic grinned. "Mind to join in?," he added.

"You think GUN can't handle this thing?," Knuckles asked. "It's halfway me. Well, my blood, sooo...yeah, I think so.," Sonic shrugged. He was a little concerned, he had to admit it, as he knew, what he himself was capable off. If this creature really was halfway himself, it wouldn't be an easy fight.

"Um...excuse me?," the violet cat, who Sonic didn't know yet, asked. "Oh, hey. I'm Sonic. What is it?," the hedgehog greeted politely. "I'm Blaze and...well, isn't it a little too quiet? I mean...shouldn't there be... noise?," the cat asked, embarrassed, because she didn't know, if she even asked something useful.

Her question let everyone still. It had been about five minutes, since the three mobians had come over – why hadn't they heard any gunshots or other fighting noises yet? They weren't THAT far away, even a human, who would have the worst hearing among them, would have heard something!

Fearing the worst, Shadow turned around and ran the way they had come back, the others on his heels.

* * *

At the edge of the Island they stopped at the same time, mortified. The water around the landmass was blood red, the submarines only shreds, poking out of the sea where it was shallow. The beach was flooded with blood, destroyed weapons and cut body parts. Not one bullet was visible. The guns had never been fired.

It took the watching mobians a few seconds to realize, that they were looked at – and at first, it seemed to be a different creature, that they had never before met.

A blood red eye on the left and a poison green eye on the right stared at them. Its fur and straight quills were coated with a red liquid and dripped on the last spot of yellow sand under it, coloring it like the rest.

Then the mobians saw the number 300, still visible on its chest, though it was now barely distinguishable from the rest of its body, thanks to the blood-coated fur around it. It held its left arm up, its hand closed tightly around the struggling Fleetway's throat, holding him above the ground. The golden seme fought with all his strength against the merciless grip, without success. The two different colored eyes looked at the small group, as if Fleetway in their master's grip wasn't doing anything.

"New order. Collect in the ukes and semes, that managed to escape, but alive – and kill everyone else you feel outside the building.," it rasped, repeating Perringten's last heard words one by one, never taking its eyes off the stunned mobians.

In his office, Jester Perringten watched the monitor of his computer. It showed him the vitals of his creation, the small window in the left bottom corner now indicated, that number 300 was developed to 100%. A cruel grin appeared on his face. "Game over, you fools. You are mine.," he sneered.

* * *

There you go. Sorry, if the fight scene isn't the best, I've never been good with those...

Anyway, as I said, I try to hurry, but should I take longer, don't think I forgot it. Have a nice day!


	17. Heartless

It's a rewrite. See the bottom of the chapter for explanations. Thanks and enjoy!

* * *

 **17: Heartless**

"How...could he be so fast?," Mighty asked, astounded. He knew, that not even Sonic – the fastest creature he thought existed – would have been able to cause that much havoc in what? – five minutes!?

Shadow bared his fangs. He knew, how this was possible. This thing knew Chaos Control! It had simply stopped time and then destroyed and killed everyone it had found. As it had his DNA, it wasn't so surprising – he had the knowledge for this engraved in his system, too – but the fact, that it COULD use it.

To use Chaos Control, he needed an energy source, otherwise he would burn out his own energy cells permanently. The best energy source he knew were Chaos Emeralds.

He himself had used an artificial one, before he had been captured. The fake Emerald, looking like the original ones, had been designed and created by GUN-scientists for him. They probably didn't trust him with a real one.

Anyway, he couldn't feel any kind of Chaos Emerald on this number 300 – somewhere on the island they were currently on, yes, but not close enough to actually provide the creature with energy.

He growled lowly, when he realized something. Number 300 had been created out of his AND Sonic's blood. Unlike himself, Sonic created his own Chaos Energy, just like every naturally born creature. To be created out of the blood of someone, who had this natural ability, must've given him this advantage, too. And yet...if this was true, it should be at least slightly exhausted, but it wasn't, if anything, it looked better than ever! So how? Did it get energy from somewhere he just wasn't able to think of?

The creature looked from one being to the next. Number 300 knew, that it had to collect in the semes and ukes – but which ones of those in front of him? The blue hedgehog, he knew that much, as his master had talked with him, when he had had him in his clutches. Who else? His eyes landed on the violet female. His master wasn't interested in females, he had to kill her. The others...he would take them out and let his master decide, who he should spare and who not.

Not wanting to let his master wait any longer, he threw the squirming male in his grasp in the wall of the building, the impact knocking him out, before he aimed at the female. He was too fast for her, she looked around in confusion, unable to detect him, while he closed in on her. Her eyes were too slow to follow his movements, she wouldn't be able to save herself.

He was just about to kill her, when something hit him, that let him fly back and land in the sea. In seconds, he emerged again, dripping wet, the blood washed off his fur.

It didn't take him long to discover, what had hit him. The blue hedgehog stood still in front of the surprised female, a look of determination in his green eyes. Number 300 felt his eyelid twitch.

 _Why?_ He just couldn't understand it. Why should he – or anyone for that matter – protect someone else? It didn't make sense, not at all!

Shaking off the pointless feeling of confusion, he growled and prepared for a fight. As long as one of his targets was standing in front of the only one he could kill, he would have to keep himself restrained, so he wouldn't disobey his master.

The thought had just passed through his head, when something bright appeared in front of him and hit him, before he had time to even register, what it was. He crashed in the water behind him again.

Where he had been, stood Fleetway in the air, in his profile to the others. His fur was glowing and looked, at if it was burning. It moved, thanks to all the energy he was giving off. His eyes were glowing in a deep red and a grin, that showed off his sharp fangs, was on his face.

"You thought, I would give in this fast? You fool!," he chuckled, his voice sounding strange, as if the Chaos Energy was affecting that, too.

Shadow stared at the bright male. He could feel, that he gave out FAR more Chaos Energy than usual – during their fights, he hadn't ever shown half of this mass! Where did he get it from?

Number 300 emerged once more, a hard look on his face. "You can't defeat me.," he growled. "Wanna bet?," Fleetway smirked and made a 'Come and get me'-gesture. Number 300 didn't react to it, he obviously didn't understand the gesture. "You don't wanna come at me? Fine. Then I'll come to you!"

For Blaze, Mighty and Knuckles, Fleetway then disappeared and shortly after, number 300, too. Sonic, Shadow and, to some extent, Mephiles, too, however could watch, how the fight continued, how the two hedgehogs exchanged hits and kicks at a pace, that was too fast for the normal eye.

They seemed evenly matched, but Sonic started to feel, that something was off. Fleetway's actions became less strategic, he seemed more and more only interested in giving pain. And he highly doubted, that he would be satisfied with punching this number 300. Sooner or later, he would...

He whirled around. "Knux!" Said echidna jumped. "W-wha-?" "How many Emeralds are here?," Sonic asked, his tone not leaving room to argue. "Seven, wh-" Sonic was gone, before Knuckles could end, and with him Shadow.

* * *

Less than ten seconds later, Shadow came to an halt in front of an ancient temple, on whose roof Sonic stood with closed eyes. Just then, Shadow discovered the seven Chaos Emeralds on pillars around the temple, hovering over the stone. While he stared at them, the stones started to glow and flew to Sonic to surround him in a circle.

Fascinated, Shadow watched, how the Emeralds got absorbed in Sonic's body, coloring his blue fur golden and his green eyes, that he opened, after the transformation was over, amber.

The dark hedgehog was impressed. He knew, that he was able to merge with the Emeralds, although he had never done this so far – but it was quite a surprise, that Sonic could do this, too.

He had been almost too deep in his musings to realize, that Sonic was about to take off. "Sonic, where are you going!?," he shouted. "Fleetway, I need to stop him, or he will attack the others!," Sonic shouted back without looking at him, his eyes staring to where said seme was right now. And then he was gone.

Shadow raised a brow in confusion – how was he supposed to know, that Fleetway would do that? He had barely seen anything of Fleetway's character, he couldn't foresee his actions yet, could he? Heck, not even he himself could, and he had fought countless times against this lunatic!

Shaking his head, he returned to the others. There stood Sonic in the air, looking around, trying to find the two fighters. But like Shadow, he couldn't find them. Where were they all of a sudden? Suddenly, Sonic perked up and whirled around to the building.

 _Oh no._

* * *

About 15 minutes earlier:

Kylie was nervously forming her hands to fists, opening them and balling them again to repeat then everything, trying to relieve her stress. The damn elevator seemed to crawl up to the tenth floor, it seemed to slow down with every floor it had passed.

Of course, she knew, that this only seemed to be like that, the illusion created by her stress and adrenaline, but she couldn't help it.

They would have to deal with frightened pregnant ukes and their aggressive human warders, it would be hell. She knew, how cruel and cowardly the people here were and could only hope, that it would go well.

She jerked, when the elevator, that she had cursed before, stopped suddenly. They were actually there! The door opened and she quickly ran out, towards the door of the ward, that was big enough to let a bed through, if necessary.

She fumbled with her ID-card for a second, before she held it properly in her hand, ready to use it. She turned around and saw the soldiers all ready behind her. Feeling reassured, she opened the electronic lock with her card and then stepped aside to let the women in, while Tails, Bokkun and the male soldier stayed with her. She listened intently, hoping, that no one of the people working in the ward tried something.

"Guardians of the United Nations! Everybody, hands where I can see them!," one of the women shouted. There were curses and sounds of things, that fell out of hands, audible now and then. The ukes instead were silent, to not draw any attention to them.

"Down with the knife!," another woman suddenly shouted, making Kylie freeze. "I've got a better idea: down with the guns, or this one here gets it!," a male voice snarled.

Kylie shook her shock off and turned to run in, but before she had reached the threshold, she already heard a deep growl, a ripping sound and a scream. _Too late._ , she thought, knowing, what this meant and ran in the room.

She rushed past the stunned people towards an empty bed, whose restraints had been ripped through. She stopped between it and the bed she had passed last, looking at the orange furred pregnant uke, who crouched growling on the unconscious man. His brown eyes, that started to turn red, watched her with a 'Come closer and see what happens'-glare.

Kylie wasn't stupid, she knew, that the male had reacted to the threat and was highly on guard still, seeing anything and anyone right now as a danger to his young. It had been a mistake to threaten his life, he had immediately known, that his babies would have died, too. And there was nothing a mother wouldn't do for her – in this case his – young.

One wrong move of Kylie now – and she would most likely join the man in the world of unconsciousness...or worse.

Slowly, the woman let herself down on her knees to reduce her height – and the threat she posed. "It's okay, I don't want to harm you.," she cooed with her sweetest voice. The male stopped growling, looking confused, before he started sniffing the air between them. He then relaxed, the red disappeared out of his eyes and he blinked. Did he somehow smell, that she didn't mean harm to him and his pups? Or did he just smell Sonic's scent on her, an Alpha, and did this qualify her as an ally?

She shook her head a little to abandon these thoughts for now and looked at the confused male. He seemed to finally realize, that he wasn't chained to a bed anymore and looked down at his bruised wrists, before he raised his head and discovered Kylie in front of him, who smiled.

"It's...over?," he whispered, as if he would wake up and be back on the bed, if he talked too loud.

"It is. Come, let's get out of here." She extended her hand and he was quick to grab it and to let her help him up, as he was too big and heavy to do this alone. He winced, once he stood and used his free hand to stroke his belly.

"Everything okay?," Kylie asked worriedly – he wasn't going in labor, was he? "Y-yeah, th-they just-" He stopped, his eyes widening, while he slowly repeated the stroking of his belly, his mimic showing...wonder.

It took Kylie a few seconds to catch up – of course, this was the first time he actually felt them with his hands. As a mother, she knew, that touching her belly was part of bonding with the little life in there, to deny this any mother was just cruel and heartless. The uke probably just now realized fully, that he was free and his young as well, through this simple gesture.

"W-we are fine.," the uke finally managed to say, biting his lip, so he wouldn't cry, knowing, that this was neither the place, nor the time.

Kylie smiled and nodded, before she looked around. While the soldiers were arresting the men and pushed them out the door, Tails and Bokkun had started to untie the ukes. Those, who Bokkun helped, looked at the robot funny, but as Kylie had hoped all along, he was too small and acting too childish to be seen as a threat. And thankfully the robot was very careful and stayed away from their bellies.

Not hesitating any longer, Kylie turned around and started to untie some ukes herself. As the number of arrested in the room shrunk, the soldiers went to help her.

Kylie kept herself relaxed, while she worked, trying not to think about what would happen, if someone of the arrested had had the time to inform someone. What if someone came and attacked the pregnant ukes? They would become aggressive and possibly kill EVERY human in sight – also her and the soldiers.

She pushed those fears back, she didn't want to upset the males further – the fact, that they were freed after so long, was upsetting enough – and helped them to get off the beds. Soon, the room was filled with endless streams of whispered 'Thank you, thank you so much's.

Kylie had just freed another, helping him off the bed, when she heard her name being called. She looked up and around and saw one of the women standing next to a bed with a brown furred hedgehog on it. She was waving at her, looking worried. Kylie could guess, that something was wrong and made her way over, trying not to walk into one of the ukes, who were standing still in the ward, not exactly ready to go out, where their tormentors were.

She reached the bed and leaned close to the woman. "He's in labor.," the woman explained in a whisper. Kylie's eyes widened and she quickly looked down to the hedgehog.

His face was scrunched up in pain and he was sweating. She placed her hand on his belly just in time to feel a contraction ripple through it, making him wince and whimper, though he kept both noises as quiet as possible – the typical behavior of an uke, who was in labor in an unsafe environment.

"I found some documents about him, he's a week early. Probably the stress.," the woman, who had waved her closer, whispered discreetly.

Kylie took her hand off his belly and cursed in her mind, not letting any of this show on the outside. He was really in labor, but that wasn't any reason to scare the male more, than he already had to be.

After a few seconds, she had herself collected again and called to get the attention of the others. "You.," she pointed to the three women, who didn't have medicinal knowledge. "Clear this room there for me." She pointed to the room, where the C-sections and, if necessary, the removal of dead pups happened. She knew this since Sonic's miscarriage.

In there were only four surgeons – as far as she knew – and their only weapons were surgery utensils, that's why she didn't tell them more. Besides, she didn't want to raise a panic by telling everyone, that one of the ukes was in labor. She didn't even say, what room she meant in particular for the same reason.

The women nodded and, as there was nobody left to arrest here, went to do, what she had ordered.

Kylie then turned to the ukes, Tails and Bokkun, who stared at her, wondering, why she was suddenly ordering around the soldiers, who were supposed to have a higher rank, than her.

"Listen, you will go with GUN- I know!," she quickly added, when terrified whimpers started to fill the room. "I know, that you are scared, but I promise, that it's safe. Those men will bring you away from here, you – and your young."

It was a little mean to play the 'safe for your young'-card, but Kylie didn't have time to argue with them. The uke next to her was in labor and when the little ones in him moved down the birth canal, she couldn't hope to perform a C-section anymore and they would have to wait for maybe hours, until he had given birth. And besides, even though Tails had frozen all cameras on the floors they were working on right now, the people working here were bound to notice the army on the beach sooner or later – not to mention the hedgehogs, who would soon travel to said beach and to the island next to it... It was better to move NOW. After her little speech, the ukes hesitantly nodded.

"What's wrong anyway?," Tails asked, confused about what Kylie wanted with the room she had sent the women into. It didn't have any kind of sign above it, just a small lamp, that was turned on, when a surgery started, that's why he asked.

"Something, that will be under control soon.," Kylie replied, thankful, that Tails didn't know half of what happened here.

The door to the surgery room opened and eight men – obviously, there had been more surgeons, than she had estimated – came out, hands bound to their backs and scowls on their faces. Some still wore their scrubs, they had probably just prepared for the surgery on the male next to her.

Kylie quickly looked at Tails to try and see, how he would react to this, but to her surprise, he didn't even look.

He wasn't the only one, though. All ukes had raised their heads, staring like Tails at the ceiling, their ears twitching. Were they hearing something?

In that moment, the wolf soldier shouted, "GET DOWN!", something, she didn't need to tell the ukes at all – when the back wall exploded, they had already taken cover behind the beds. Kylie, who had thrown herself over the uke in labor, when she had realized the danger, waited, until the room stopped shaking, before she carefully turned around. Her jaw dropped.

In the middle of the room, in an arrangement of thrown over beds, were two figures, clouded by the dust from the destroyed wall. It lifted fast, while she was watching, revealing the culprits: Fleetway, who had his hands wrapped around the choking number 300's neck. The seme sat on the artificial creature, trapping him this way, laughing like a maniac, while he tried to strengthen his grip. "Got you!," he giggled in a rather crazy way.

Before Kylie could try to do something, someone already did. Through the hole in the wall came a golden blur, that threw the two fighting hedgehogs out the way they came. Just a few seconds later, you could hear two 'Splash's, as they landed in the water.

"Is everything alright?" Kylie blinked and discovered a golden hedgehog, where Fleetway and number 300 had been.

"Sonic!," Tails exclaimed happily, making Kylie realize instantly, who she saw standing in front of them. She didn't recognize him with the different fur and eye colors and the raised quills, but yes, he did look like Sonic otherwise.

"Tails, are you okay?," Sonic asked the fox, who nodded with a smile. "Yeah, we're all fine!," he answered, some of the ukes already coming out of their hiding spots, confirming his words.

"Good." Sonic's ear twitched towards the hole. "I need to go, but I'll come back as soon, as I can. Try to make it outside, I'll help you, when I'm done. I leave this to you, buddy!" And he was gone, before anyone could answer.

Kylie watched for a few seconds, how the ukes started to get up, following the order the Alpha had given them without a question. Relieved, when Tails took the leader's role, she motioned for the two women with medicinal knowledge to help her with pushing the bed of the uke in labor in the surgery. The doors closed behind them, shutting out the world for the time being.

* * *

In the middle of the big room was a metal table covered with a long green cloth, on that the women carefully laid the male.

Kylie jumped, when iron rings came out of the table, ripping the cloth, snapping around the ankles and wrists of the uke, binding him to the surface of the table.

Recovering from the shock – and figuring, that it would be easy to loose the shackles again –, Kylie let one of the soldiers push the bed out and told then both to get ready in the attached room in the corner, where they would find all they needed.

She stayed behind, looking for a sedative, that hadn't been prepared so far. It wouldn't have surprised her, if they didn't plan on using any at all. It would fit to those sadists.

Finally finding a sedative suited for a pregnant person, in a cabinet in the corner next to the door, she took it out, filled a syringe with the right amount of liquid and went back to the male. And then, she heard it.

His voice, so soft through the pain and fear, so hoarse from misuse. And what he said, broke her heart.

"Please, don't! Don't take them away! Please, I beg of you, let me keep them, just once! Just-just one, that's all I ask! Y-you don't have to do anything, I'll take care of them, I swear! Please. D-don't take them away...again...," the male whimpered, sounding, as if he was close to tears, but nothing came out. He was probably too weak or too numb by now for tears. It was quite obvious, that he wasn't here for the first time. And how dead his voice sounded, while he kept avoiding eye contact... It was clear to Kylie, that this uke didn't have any hope left in him.

Ukes were at their weakest, when they were in labor, unable to do anything, as they were completely focused on giving birth. And when they were pregnant, they only activated their inmobian powers, if they were threatened. The humans here knew, how to avoid that, giving the males no chance to escape – and taking away every hope to ever end this nightmare.

Kylie resisted the urge to vomit at this thought and forced herself to stay calm. She placed the syringe down on one of the tables with the instruments they would need and gently touched the cheek of the male, who flinched, because it was so unexpected. Kylie felt sadness creep in her heart. He was so young, around Silver's age, she estimated, and yet he had been forced in pregnancies several times. "Hey.," she said gently, carefully petting his cheek.

It took a few minutes, until she had the male convinced to look at her. His green eyes were red and puffy and seemed mostly desperate, but she could also read surprise. As Kylie knew every uke, who had ever been in her care, she could tell, that he had never seen her up close – maybe from afar, when she had been looking for Sonic, but never this close.

"Hi there.," Kylie smiled, using his confusion to actually reach him through his desperation. "It's okay. I promise, we won't take them."

His eyes widened, he couldn't probably believe, what he had just heard. He stayed silent for a minute, staring in her eyes, as if he was looking for something. He twitched a little, most likely because of a contraction, but didn't acknowledge it, too absorbed in his task of staring at her.

Whatever it was he was looking for, he seemed to have finally found it, because his glare lost most of the distrust.

"You...you promise?," he asked finally. "Yes, I do...er... what's your name?," Kylie asked, a little embarrassed, that she hadn't asked before.

The uke looked away, seeming...embarrassed, too? "Promise...not to laugh?," he asked silently. "Sure.," Kylie replied, hiding her surprise. That he could feel something else but fear and desperation in a situation like this... It was impressive – and quite confusing...

"...Forest." The word, spoken by the uke in front of her, brought her out of her musings. "Huh?," she asked confused. The male pressed his ears against his skull and blushed. "My name...is Forest.," he whispered. "Oh... Well, it's a nice name.," she quickly caught herself. "Not really.," Forest replied – and winced again, when another contraction hit him.

Kylie became worried. Did she waste too much time!? "N-no worries...they're not moving down the birth canal, yet.," Forest explained with a slightly trembling voice, trying to hide his pain.

"How do you-?" "I beg for mercy, they talk, as if I'm not doing anything. I learned a lot from their talking, if I wanted it, or not.," Forest replied dully, looking away.

"I'm listening, though. Don't worry, I promise to help you.," Kylie said, quickly bringing him out of his bitter thoughts. "I know." A small smile appeared on his face, while he turned around to face her. "In the cell, you are some kind of angel to all of us. I always hoped to meet you...to see, if the rumors are true. They are.," he smiled.

Kylie felt, how blood shot in her cheeks. Was this so? She had been so absorbed in her own feelings of guilt, that she didn't have time to notice this. To be precise, Sonic had been the first one to actually tell her, that she was different. Not even Silver had said something like that. Well, he had met _her_ first – and then the other humans here.

She shook those thoughts off and focused on the main problem. "As enlightening – and flattering – this conversation is, we need to get those little ones out of you, which means, that I'll have to sedate you now.," she explained.

Forest's smile turned a little bitter and he turned his head to stare at the ceiling. Kylie, interpreting this as some kind of consent, gently gave him the injection. Forest sighed. "So it can be painless.," he mused, meaning the shot he had been given, bitterness now also in his voice. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them again, looking at the ceiling still. "Falling asleep here means usually, that you awake empty. It would be nice, if it could change. If only...for once..."

And he was out, before he could finish the last syllable. Either the sedative was stronger, than she remembered it to be – or his last meal didn't have enough actual substance, that would have helped him to fight off the sedative's effect longer. Poor thing.

She petted his head for a bit, trying to reassure them both this way, before she went to get ready, together with the other two women. They had a C-section to perform!

* * *

Sonic couldn't believe, that Fleetway had been crazy enough to relocate his fight with number 300 – in the maternity ward of all places! What had he been thinking!? Well, apparently nothing, it seemed. Maybe the cold bath knocked some sense into him, he thought, while he talked with Tails and the ukes.

The noise he heard from outside the building in the next second told him otherwise, though, and he quickly made his way outside again.

Under him he could see the water moving, giant waves crashing in each other. At times, the water masses parted for a second and he could see them, still exchanging hits and kicks.

Under water? Really!? Even though his Superform could withstand a lot – even a raging water _god_ – he wasn't keen on getting wet. Not to mention, that, even though the Chaos Emeralds were healing some of the damage this place had caused him, he was far from top health and couldn't foresee, how this was affecting his ability to keep the energy in his body. The last thing he needed was, that the mystical stones were leaving him, while he was under the waves.

To his luck, the two fighters came out of the water in that moment, but their battle moved too close to the building again – though they were this time much lower. He flew to them, his eyes never leaving the fight, trying to find an opening.

He found it, when the two males pulled away to gather some energy and momentum for the next attack.

At once, Sonic was between them, hitting number 300 with all force he had towards the open sea, before turning to Fleetway and holding him back, since he was about to follow the enemy.

"Stop this." The two words let him freeze in his tries to shake off the hero's hand and turn around, his eyes showing fear and, that he had his undivided attention. "I don't know, what you think you're doing, but you will stop this _now_. Go and do something useful, I'll handle this!," Sonic told him sternly.

Fleetway nodded, his face looking, as if he had just seen a ghost. It took Sonic just a second to realize, that he was staring at something behind him.

"What?," he asked and turned around. His eyes went wide. Where had been a wall, was now a large crack, revealing a rather destroyed room behind it. The familiar scents of Kylie's old ward hit his nose.

But he hadn't hit number 300 in there – so how? Did he... lose control over the Chaos Power? That had never happened before!

Cursing, he left Fleetway alone and rushed in the building to make sure, that nobody got hurt because of him.

* * *

Not too long ago:

There were a few things, that Shy couldn't stand. Basements, nosy sisters, nosy friends, nosy strangers, boys, who thought, that they could hit on her – and the list went on and on.

On the very top of this list, however, were hospitals. She hated those with a passion. She was therefore not amused to find out, that she had accidentally taken over the task of freeing all ukes in the medicinal ward.

"I knew I should've listened.," she growled inwardly, while she tried to collect herself enough to enter. She couldn't even pretend to be on the wrong floor – there were five mobians here, their auras told her that much.

Throwing her hair back, which was a nervous habit she had since her childhood, she took a deep breath and short-circuited the electronic lock, opening the door for her to step through.

She came in a room with five occupied beds opposite the door. Cupboards of all forms were around her along the walls, also a door at the right wall, probably leading to another room.

Ignoring the familiar hospital-stench, that made her want to vomit, Shy turned her head and let her eyes swipe over the hedgehogs, trying to see, what was wrong with them. They wouldn't be here for fun, after all.

The first one, an orange furred one with yellow eyes, had his chest bandaged heavily, she could guess, that he had at least one broken rib.

The hedgehog next to him had dark green, wet looking fur, his eyes were closed and his breathing was ragged. Was he sick?

The third hedgehog, with gray fur, had both his arms in casts, obviously they were broken. Well, at least not the legs. His blue eyes were looking at her with heavy distrust.

The next hedgehog had purple fur and silver eyes. There seemed to be nothing wrong with him... Shy had to correct herself, when she noticed, that some kind of liquid was in his fur and the stench of fresh vomit started to mix with the other smells.

Great. Just what kind of loser was responsible for this place and not cleaning something like that immediately!?

The last one, a hedgehog with almost white fur, was...suspiciously calm. He didn't move, besides what little movement his breathing caused.

From what she could tell, only the two injured ones were capable of moving. The others...well, she was no doctor, but she knew a little medicine – thanks to Mighty, Scythe and Blush, who were true experts in first aid.

She went to the feverish hedgehog first, ignoring the eyes, that followed her every movement. Coming closer, she saw, that they were all bound to the beds. "That makes my hatred towards hospitals NOT better.," she thought, practically feeling the nightmares her mind was brewing for her in this very moment out of this single picture of bound hedgehogs.

She arrived at her destination and carefully placed her hand on the uke's head. Although she was immune to great heat, she could tell, that he was too hot. She closed her eyes and carefully started to pull the heat towards her.

It was something she had found out years ago, when Emma had been very ill. Having no option to this time, she had tried to get her hands cold to cool her by sucking the temperature out of those appendages – and instead had sucked the heat out of Emma. Thankfully, she had been able to stop, before her body could collapse from the sudden temperature drop. By now, she had used it several times and therefore could bring down the fever in mere seconds. The uke sighed, once his temperature was lower and fell in a deeper sleep.

Shy let him sleep for the time being and went to the one, who still had his stomach content on him. The male visibly struggled to get away, he didn't know, what exactly the human girl had done to the green furred uke and had to assume the worst. Well, it wasn't like humans had been anything but cruel to them here, so she kind of understood.

Shy stopped in front of the uke and frowned down on him. As she could see auras, she could see his fear, shining like a light house at night – and it gave her a headache.

She could feel the same amount of fear coming off the gray male, but strangely not from the orange furred one. Well, one reason less for her forming migraine, she presumed.

She sighed and focused on the male in front of her. "Listen, I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help and free you...and clean you, while I'm at it.," she added, resisting the urge to hold her nose. The uke looked at her incredulously.

Shy used the fact, that his struggling had ceased, to create a small ball of water, sucking the fluid for it out of her own body and the air. Once she was satisfied with the size, she lowered it in to the dirtied fur, the ball changing its form, when it met resistance, forming a washrag. With the water, Shy cleaned the fur of the dried remains. She wouldn't get rid of all the stench – it was merely weakened – but it was better, than nothing. Taking all the water back, leaving the fur clean and slightly damp, Shy threw the ball of dirty water carelessly in a corner, where it became a puddle.

"Better, right?," Shy asked, but the uke just stared at her, he obviously tried to process, what was happening – and she didn't mean her powers. "Think you can walk without getting sick anytime soon?," Shy tried it again. This time, she received a nod, a tiny one. Better than nothing.

Just then, she noticed something about the last hedgehog in the row of beds. Seeing auras meant, too, that she could see, how good or bad someone was faring – and the white hedgehog was dying, his aura was getting weaker and darker, while she watched.

"Oh no, you don't!," she growled and rushed over to him. "Wake up, right now!" Furiously, she started to shake him, but the male didn't react. There was no way, that this was a normal slumber.

She let another ball of water appear on her hand, sucked out as much warmth out of it as possible without freezing it and then threw the ice-cold water on the hedgehog. The shock of something so cold thrown on someone usually woke even the deepest sleeper – but the uke didn't even twitch.

Shy grew worried. She knew too little about medicine for that and as far as she was concerned, nobody of their group had ever been in a coma before. What should she do? Call for help? She had no idea, where the others were in particular.

Sure, she could in theory link her aura with another one she already knew, but she had a little problem with too long distances – and she had yet to recover from her last use of her light-powers.

What was she thinking, transporting a whole freaking plane!? This was just Mighty's fault! This damn armadillo had a way of making her suddenly care for others!

She was ripped out of her thoughts, when something tackled her to the ground. Completely surprised by this, the girl made no move to catch herself and fell to the floor with something landing on her. She quickly recovered and turned her head to see orange fur. The first uke in the row?

"Seems, like he wasn't bound after all.," she thought and moved her arm up, pushing the uke up as well. "Okay, get dow-"

She stopped, when she noticed the blood. It trickled down the side of his limp figure, from his back somewhere. She let him down again and saw, that something was sticking out of there, buried seemingly quite deep. But what?

She saw movement in the corner of her eyes and whipped around to it just in time to see something flying towards her.

Used to this, she just created a wall of air, that had its molecules stick close together to make it solid, to stop the projectile and have a good look at it.

Her throat went dry. It was a scalpel, the uke had a similar stuck in his back, seeing, that both had handles, that looked the same.

She raised her head a little higher and saw a human with gray hair standing in front of her, his blue eyes fixed on the scalpel she still held in the air. "What kind of monster are you?," he whispered, once he had recovered somewhat, but his eyes were now solely on the uke in her arms.

If she got this right, then the uke had made his way over to her much quicker, than a hedgehog should be able to – Mighty's friend Sonic excluded – so she could somewhat understand, that he currently saw him responsible for everything, that was unusual.

"Afraid to disappoint, but that little trick here was my doing.," Shy broke the silence and let the scalpel fall in her hand, before throwing it away from them both.

The cold eyes of the man now bore into hers. "Did you come with these GUN-idiots? Do they nowadays recruit brats?," he snarled.

"As they are idiots for me, too, the answer's no.," Shy replied coolly, barely managing to conceal her slight worry. So they had been spotted? Would Mighty be okay on his own?

"Doesn't matter, number 300 has for sure already killed everyone out there by now.," the man continued, a smirk making its way on his face. "And I'm sure, that Perringten will give me a nice reward, if I give him a new experiment." Greed appeared in his eyes, while he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Shy, who seemed to be frozen solid, her eyes widened and her whole body shaking.

This was close to her past. This whole incident, it was too close to what had happened. She tried desperately to be logical, to tell herself, that he would have already used the weapon, if it could really do harm, but it was no use. Her fear took over, breaking through all of her restraints.

"Stand up, now!," the man ordered. Shy just lowered her head, a shadow cast over her face. Her own shadow behind her began to twist and turn unnaturally, without anyone noticing it.

"Did I stutter? I said, STAND UP!," the man screamed, the gun clicking, as he unlocked it, ready to shoot.

Before he knew, what was happening, something black shot out from behind the girl and hit the gun out of the man's hand. "Argh! You little brat!," he screamed and wanted to bend down and get his weapon back, when he realized, that his hand, in that he had held the gun, couldn't move.

He looked down on it and screamed. His hand was gone! Instead of it, there was only a ball of some kind of black slime, swallowing the appendage completely. He couldn't even feel his fingers anymore, as if all nerves had been cut through.

"W-what are you doing, you- ARGH!" Pain, stronger than anything he had ever felt before, suddenly exploded in the covered hand. He fell on his knees, clutching his arm. The pain didn't stop.

"You little-!" He interrupted himself again, when he raised his head and saw the girl once more. Her whole body was glowing in a dark violet, almost black light and her hair was dancing around her, as if caught in a stream of air.

Her face however, was enough to scare the living daylights out of him. She was smiling a smile, that was almost splitting her face in half and in her wide opened eyes was a crazy gleam, that he hadn't even ever seen in Perringten's eyes.

"You're going to die, you know that?," she chuckled with a voice, that sounded much higher, than before. She looked and talked like a complete maniac now. "The darkness will eat away at you, kill you... And it'll take long...so long..." She giggled like a child, that just got a great gift.

"Stop...it..." Shy's smile fell, when she felt movement on her lap. She hadn't realized, that the uke, who had apparently saved her from an early end by protecting her with his body, was still lying halfway across her.

He hadn't moved until now, he had probably fainted for a short while, in this very moment, however, he was slowly, now and then wincing, moving his arms, so they were left and right of the girl's neck, creating a rather awkward hug position.

"Let go.," Shy growled with a voice, that promised worlds of pain, if he didn't obey. The uke did the opposite, though, he strengthened the hug by crossing his arms behind the girls neck. "I-I won't." He was intimidated, yes, but seemed determined to stop her nonetheless. "I don't...I don't want you to do this. Please, don't kill him!," he pleaded with a trembling voice.

"Why? I can see his foul aura, he's for sure one of your cruelest tormentors, if not the worst, right?" The uke flinched a little, proving her right. "I thought so."

Stance screamed in agony, when the ball around his hand grew, swallowing his wrist completely, setting it on fire, too.

The uke strengthened his hold more. "Stop, please! You can't do this! Please, don't kill him!," he pleaded again.

"Tell me one good reason why not.," Shy hissed. The uke slowly loosened his grip to look up into her cold eyes, that had turned almost completely black.

"Because you aren't like him, yet." The girl's eyes widened. "You also give pain, like he does so often. If you would kill him now, too, you will be exactly like him. And I know, that you aren't. Please, don't do it. You're better than that. Better than him, I know it. Please, don't.," he said without a single tremble in his voice. Not once had his eyes left hers, while he had spoken, they seemed locked in each other.

After what felt like an eternity, she slowly moved her arms around the uke in a hug. The black disappeared out of her eyes, her face relaxed again, the insane look vanishing. Her hair fell back in place, the black light dimming, until it was gone.

Shy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her fear was replaced by sanity again and she could think clearly once more. Of course, he was right. It was just...

She shook her head, not wanting to remember it. She didn't need to activate her darkness-powers twice a day, once had been really enough. She opened her eyes and, without warning, pulled out the scalpel from the uke's back.

The hedgehog gasped, the movement had been too quick to actually feel pain, just the foreign object leaving him.

After this, Shy made sure to stop the bleeding – blood was a fluid and she had control over it, as if it was water, though it was a lot trickier to do this, if it wasn't actually water – as she didn't exactly want to either ask the human to treat the wound, or search through the drawers and cupboards for some bandages to find more nightmare-material.

She then looked up and at the ball around the man's hand and it turned white, before it disappeared.

The man looked down – and screamed. His hand was pitch black, like coal! The veins shining through the flesh were violet, up to his wrist, where the flesh and the veins were normal.

His head whipped up to the girl. "What did you do to me, you little bitch!?," he screamed. "As I said, you'll die. And you won't like the only way to prevent it.," Shy replied dully.

The man's face turned red and pale at once and he grabbed quickly another scalpel out of his coat's pocket, pointing the tip at the girl. "You will reverse this NOW, or I'll-"

Whatever he had planned to threaten her with, he never came to say it, as the wall on Shy's right suddenly exploded, sending Stance flying.

Also used to that – thanks to the training fights with her friends – Shy was able to react immediately and to create a shield out of light, that caught all debris raining down on the ukes and herself. It was quickly over and she let the light throw off the caught debris to the side.

Stance lay motionlessly on the floor in front of a few cabinets. The ukes were whimpering in fear, only the white one next to her was still sleeping.

Just a few seconds later, a golden furred hedgehog came through the new crack in the wall, looking around.

"Is everything alright...?," he started to ask, while looking around, turned to the left – and had promptly a very pissed Shy in his face. "Did you do that!?," she asked, not at all aware, that she still had the uke in her arms.

Sonic jumped back, frowning inwardly. Why did he have the feeling, that he had had this situation before?

"I...er...sorry, yes. Are you hurt?," he caught himself after a few seconds. "No – but _not_ thanks to you! What were you thinking!? And what were you doing anyway!? We could have _died_ , you idiot!," Shy seethed, the darkness in her flaring up again, fueled by her rage and shock.

"Are those two alright?," Sonic asked, worried, when he discovered the unmoving uke and human, – and still so confused by this strange déjà vu-feeling, that he didn't acknowledge her chastising. Oddly enough, his reaction – or lack of it – calmed Shy more than an apology would have.

"Sure, that's just the one, who tried to kill me, before you knocked him out.," Shy nodded to the prone figure, "And he's been like that, since I'm here." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder to the white uke, while she talked.

She blinked – and Sonic was gone. "What the-!?" She spun around and spotted him next to the bed of the aforementioned uke. She smirked inwardly. "Right. I almost forgot, that he can do that.," she thought.

"Hey, wake up!," the – currently not – blue hero called and gently touched the other's shoulder. "Won't work, I-" Shy interrupted herself, when she could see, how the uke's aura flared back to life, seemingly enlightened by the other hedgehog, like lighting a not-lit candle with a burning one. "Okay, that's definitely something I didn't try so far. Interesting.," Shy thought, making mental notes.

The white uke groaned and finally opened his purple eyes. "W-what...?," he mumbled hoarsely and groggily.

Shy blinked again – and all restraints were cut through. "I should just stop blinking.," she sighed. "I need to get out again, but I'll come back as soon, as I can, to help you escape. Try to get as far, as you can." And the golden hedgehog was gone.

Reluctantly, the ukes moved off the beds, the one with the broken arms being the slowest for obvious reasons, and came over to her.

Hm, they were much more responsive to his words – probably a hedgehog-thing, or something like that.

Shy watched them, her eyes slipping over to the first bed. She frowned in confusion. The restraints...had been broken through and not cleanly cut like the others. But how? And if he could do this, why hadn't he done this sooner?

Shoving those thoughts away for now, she straightened herself. "Alright, let's move i-" She interrupted herself once again, when a rumble shook the room around her. She looked down and saw a crack, wandering between her feet and across the floor, dividing it. The two halves of the floor were cracking more and more by the second, forming strange patterns in the process. "You've got to be kidding me.," the girl thought, when the ground broke under her feet.

* * *

Earlier, second floor:

"Does this ever stop!?," Amy huffed, while smashing several of the attacking men in the wall next to her.

"Doesn't look like it.," Scythe replied, while liberating some attackers of their weapons and – at times – from their fingers.

It wasn't exactly her fault – the fact, that she had company, who wasn't used to a fighter with a scythe as preferred weapon, made it impossible for her to use it. The risk of accidentally slicing the girl into pieces was too big for her liking – considering, that she had come with her to _protect_ the hedgette, not to harm her.

Therefore, she had been forced to use her sword, or better, her father's, that she had sworn to never draw. Besides the fact, that she had to break this promise to herself, was there the problem, that she wasn't used to handle such a light and small weapon – in comparison to her scythe, anyway – and therefore a little clumsy with handling it.

Well, the humans would spare themselves the amputations and cuts, if they would simply _stop attacking_. But they didn't. Even those, who already met her sword, tried it again, with more coming in the hallway.

"They really don't want to lose their precious breeders, huh?," Scythe thought and hit some more back, before ducking to dodge Amy's hammer, that hit the wall, where her head had been.

Everyone stilled, when the hallway started to shake, just after the hit. Amy slowly let her hammer down, noticing the many human eyes suddenly on her. "I-I d-didn't...," she started to stammer, not knowing, how this could have happened. No matter how strong she was with this hammer, she couldn't create earthquakes with it!

"That wasn't you.", Scythe said and had raised her head, looking at the ceiling, where she could see cracks appear on it, more and more by the second.

Instantly, she realized the danger. "Get down!," she shouted the second the ceiling started to crumble.

Amy obeyed, throwing herself to the floor and covering her head with her arms. Scythe transformed into a giant feral wolf, using her broad back to protect the girl from the debris, the thick fur protecting her from getting hurt.

The rain of rubble ended suddenly – and much too soon for this much material. Scythe looked up and smirked. The debris was standing in the air – and she knew only one person able to do this.

As if on cue, said person appeared. Shy came floating out of the huge crack in the ceiling, together with a few hedgehogs. One, with orange fur and yellow eyes, was in her arms. He was looking around with big eyes, as if he couldn't possibly believe, what he saw.

"Hi Scythe, fancy meeting you here.," Shy grinned, while they sank to the floor, the floating rubble flying out of the way for them. Once they had landed, Shy already fell to her knees, barely able to hold herself up. The uke in her arms found his footing, when she bent over in an attempt to hold herself up, and helped to keep her from falling with what little strength he had, until Shy managed to sit against the wall, unconsciously pulling the hedgehog on her lap in the process.

Scythe tsked, transformed back and walked over to the girl. "Okay, what did you do? You look deathly pale, so don't you dare to lie to me.," she demanded. It wouldn't surprise her, if she was responsible for this little earthquake.

"Wasn't planning to. I actually need your help." Shy pointed up and Scythe looked in the direction just in time to catch the human falling on her by grabbing his collar. It was typical for Shy to actually throw people she didn't like – Mighty knew that all too well, until she had warmed up to him.

Immediately, Scythe smelt the rotten flesh and threw the man a few meters further away. She scowled at a small dark spot on her hand, where the dying flesh had touched hers.

She turned to Shy and held the hand out to her. "Yeah, I know. Sorry." Shy touched the spot and it vanished.

Well, at least she wasn't responsible for the earthquake, she would have told her right away otherwise – and then mentioned the human she almost killed to soften the reaction. One almost killed human was better than two almost killed friends – at least in Scythe's book.

"You just have to make things complicated, don't you?," Scythe sighed and turned to the man, who was just sitting up on his knees. She quickly grabbed her sword, drawing it and walking to the man, whose eyes widened.

"N-no!," he screamed and covered his head with his arms, not knowing, that he did exactly, what Scythe had wanted. She raised her sword and, to Amy's and the ukes' horror, cut off the dead hand and wrist cleanly, making the man scream at the top of his lungs in agony, while holding the stump.

After a few seconds, Scythe rammed the handle of her sword on his head, knocking him out. "Finally. This guy almost popped my eardrums.," the girl muttered.

She turned around to see the many mortified faces. "What?," she asked. "Why did you do this?," Amy asked, terrified, backing away. Tears were gathering in her eyes.

"I had no choice. Shy has infected him with darkness, it's deadly. If I hadn't cut it off, it would have spread and killed him and everyone he would have touched or who would have touched him. I got infected myself, when his hand touched mine."

"B-but Shy healed it!," Amy argued. "Yes, but only, because she's liking me. Shy can reverse this, but only, when she has positive feelings for someone. Believe me, it looks very ugly, if she tries to ignore her feelings. I saved him, okay?" Hesitantly, Amy nodded, wiping away her tears.

Scythe smiled lightly, before pulling out a clean cloth and using it to wrap the stump, so it would stop bleeding. Then, she looked down the hallway. The ceiling had come down completely in the hallway, but at the end of it, it seemed still intact. All the humans were trapped under the debris, most likely all alive, with no more coming. "Now, that this is settled, we should look for the ukes trapped here..."

She wasn't even finished, when the elevator door behind her opened, revealing a dozen weapons pointed at them. The ukes Shy had brought with her, screamed in terror. "Freeze, all of you!," one of the men shouted over the horrified whimpers.

Scythe rolled her eyes. "New plan.," she growled, pulling out her scythe. "Pinkie, you go and free the ukes. I'll clear the way back."

She swung her scythe in a circle in front of her, like a shield, dodging the bullets shot at her for 'not-freezing' easily, making them fall to the floor like raindrops.

"Is this all?," she asked the men, who stared at her with dropped jaws. "Go, I'll take care of the rest.," she repeated towards Amy.

"Er...okay...," the girl replied, turned around and made her way down the hallway, jumping over the debris, apologizing here and there, when a man under her groaned.

"And you, stay close to Shy.," Scythe continued to order, this time meaning the ukes, who hurried closer to the human girl. "And Shy-" "Yeah, yeah. Rest and recover, I know.," the teen grumbled.

Scythe smirked and turned to the men again. "Alright, gentlemen, I'm waiting.," she challenged and swung her scythe threateningly.

* * *

Amy didn't have to search for long. Around the next corner she found a giant door, that was heavily guarded with electronic locks and cameras. The human guards were probably buried under the rubble, too, having left their spots to help getting rid of them.

"Hm..." She examined the electronic lock next to the door, at the wall of the hallway, but didn't see any way of hacking it.

She smirked and let her hammer appear. "Good, that Tails isn't here.," she thought, knowing, how much the fox would have hated, what she planned to do. She grabbed her weapon and swung it, smashing the lock to pieces.

The doors opened automatically, sliding apart, revealing darkness behind it. Foul stenches came out of it, making Amy gag and wanting to hold her nose. "H-hello? I-is someone there?," she asked, when she didn't hear anything in the windowless room.

Slowly, the girl took a hesitant step forwards, far too worried to actually notice the stench any longer.

"Hello? Please, say something!" She took another step closer to the cell and flinched, when whimpers were audible. Well, at least she now knew, that there were people in there.

"It's okay, I'm here to help you. Come, I'll show you the way out." She waved, trying to look confident and trustworthy, asking herself, how Kylie was doing this all the time.

At first, nothing happened, but then a small, hoarse voice spoke up. "You came...to save us?" It sounded full of disbelieve.

Amy smiled in the direction of the voice. "Yes. My friends and I will bring you forever away from here.," she said strongly.

Shuffling was audible and then a skeletal foot, covered with dirty, dark gray fur, came out of the darkness. It was followed by a scarily thin hedgehog.

Amy clasped her hands in front of her mouth in shock. He looked so awful! His fur was missing in chunks, he was scarred, old blood in his fur, his silvery eyes dull and almost lifeless.

He looked around slowly, every movement seemed to pain him so much, his bones were cracking. Finally, he turned slowly back to the cell and nodded once.

As if it was some kind of signal, more shuffling was audible and more hedgehogs came out.

Amy backed away to make some space, still shaking in horror, as the next ukes looked partly worse, than the first. Some needed to be supported by another uke to be able to walk, though the supporting hedgehogs didn't look like they could really carry this much additional weight.

Sonic hadn't looked like that! None of the hedgehogs he's been with had looked anything like that, to be precise.

After a few more minutes, the ukes stilled, looking at her with those empty eyes, that were starting to creep the girl out.

"Are...this all?," she asked carefully. "All, who are still alive.," the gray furred male replied with a tiny hint of sadness in his otherwise monotone voice, making Amy swallow the lump in her throat.

"O-okay...th-then let's go.," she stammered, trying to collect herself and turned around to lead them out of this hell.

She – and the ukes behind her – flinched, when a new noise was audible. At the far end of the hallway she was in right now, the doors of a big elevator opened and a few of the guards came out, wheeling small cages between them.

"-just hope, that we don't have to clean this mess.," one of them just laughed, when they noticed their audience.

Immediately, all of the guards pointed their guns at them. "I don't know, who let you out, but you will go back into your cell, NOW!," one of them ordered and to Amy's surprise, some of the ukes already turned to obey.

"They won't do this.," she said loudly, making everyone still and the humans look at her. They had probably overseen her before, until she had spoken up. "I will bring them out of here, you won't stop us.," she continued and raised her hammer threateningly.

She knew, that the odds weren't exactly at her favor, but she needed to do this. Everyone was counting on her!

"As if we would let one little girl stop us!," one of the men mocked and they pointed their guns at her.

Movement happened around her and suddenly, the ukes were in front of her, shielding her against the weapons. Low growls were audible around her.

"W-what the-? Get back! Now!," another man ordered, they were clearly confused and a little scared.

Usually, those hedgehogs listened to every order, why didn't they now!? Did all hedgehogs suddenly go crazy, or something like that?

They couldn't know it, but Amy was still a child – and every ukes' first natural instinct was to protect children, if they were their own, or not.

If they would fire now, the ukes would see this as an attack on the girl and react with a counterattack, the humans would die and about fifty highly aggressive hedgehogs would cause a bloody havoc in the whole building.

Thankfully for them, this didn't happen. They were just about to shoot, when they heard the elevator door behind them open again.

Without leaving their targets out of their sights, one of them said over his shoulder: "Good, that you're here, these rats are causing troub-"

The clicking of several guns getting readied to shoot let him pause and turn around with the others to stare at a bunch of GUN-soldiers with Rouge in front of them, a smirk on her lips.

"That would be hedgehogs – and you're the only ones causing trouble. Arrest them!," she ordered and the soldiers seemed only too happy to do that.

Meanwhile, the bat strode over to the hedgehogs, who backed away, but seemingly just to not stand in her way, not, because they were scared of her.

"I always wanted to say this.," she smirked towards Amy, who smiled, too. "Anyway, I managed to free all ukes on the sixth floor, they're tired, but so far alright. Some of them were brought down here, though, so I followed them.," She pointed to the cages, in that Amy noticed curled up figures.

"We should transport them down with this elevator, it should be big enough to fit them and us in.," Rouge said, while she was busying herself with opening the cages, that weren't locked apparently, as she simply flipped the thin lids off. The ukes in the cages moved a little, when the lids got flipped and slowly raised, looking around.

"It's okay, we're freeing you!," Amy explained cheerfully, trying to be reassuring – which wasn't too easy, as the ukes behind her were quite passive again, standing there with empty faces.

She helped the ukes to climb out, Rouge did, too, which wasn't an easy task, as the males were sore – and tried desperately to hide, especially in front of Amy, that there was still cum in them and in their furs. Thankfully, Amy was too concentrated and too inexperienced to actually notice this.

After several minutes, they were finally out of the cages and the guards handcuffed. "You meet up with the others and bring the arrested already down, we'll follow you shortly.," the bat told the soldiers and the men complied – they had seen before, how scared the hedgehogs had acted around them and figured, that the few females, that were here, had to do this.

After the guards were all with the soldiers in the elevator, the ukes were a little more relaxed, though still scared, or impassive.

"We should get Scythe and the others.," Amy told the bat. "Others?" "Yeah, Shy and five ukes kinda fell through the ceiling..."

"I'm not asking. Give me two seconds, I'll get them.," Rouge replied, remembering the three rumbles she had noticed before, one over her and two under her. She spread her wings and lifted herself up off the ground, flying over the debris.

"Er...how about we go?," Amy suggested and watched worriedly, how the ukes slowly raised their heads to look at her, as if they had no idea, what she was talking about.

* * *

Rouge didn't fly long, until she heard fighting noises and saw the tall green furred hedgette just pushing a few men back in a small elevator cabin, before she noticed the bat hovering over her.

"Don't tell me, that Pinkie didn't make it.," she grumbled. "No, she's fine. But over there is a bigger elevator, that should fit us all in.," Rouge told her, pointing in the right direction.

"I see. Give me a sec." Scythe returned her attention to the men. She grabbed the still unconscious Stance and flung his limp figure in the cabin, effectively burying the men under him.

She took out a small dagger from her pocket, that was about as long as her index finger, and stabbed it in the panel with the buttons on the inside of the cabin, before quickly slipping out again, just as the doors were closing.

"There, that should keep them occupied for a while." She said, dusting off her hands and turned around to look at the path they would have to go. Now and then was a piece of debris moving, where the human under it tried to lift it.

It would take the ukes – and Shy, who tried to look better, but was for sure still exhausted – a long time to get over the debris. Even more time, actually, seeing how the elevator doors were already dented.

"I hate humans, did I ever mention that?," Scythe grumbled, shaking her head, watching the dent getting bigger with a loud noise, that made the ukes jump.

Shy chuckled tiredly. "Just every time I'm burning your tail. Or freezing it. Or-" "So once a week, huh? Alright, let's get going."

Scythe changed to a giant wolf, before lowering herself to the ground. "Climb up.," she told the ukes, who hesitated – and jumped, when they were lifted by an invisible force up and on her back, courtesy of Shy's wind-powers.

She was the last one to bring herself and the uke she still held in her arms on the wolf's back. "Don't jump too much, you don't have seat belts here, you know?," the human told her. "Really? Who would have guessed! I know what I'm doing.," the current wolf replied, rolling her eyes.

Gracefully, Scythe stepped on the first parts of debris, her back barely moving doing that, her passengers not being jostled at all. She moved cautiously, but quickly over the collapsed ceiling with Rouge over them.

"Is there a special reason why you are having this uke in your arms?," the bat asked, observing, how the human girl hadn't let go of the hedgehog yet. Shy just looked away, tightening her hold.

"Drop it, bat.," Scythe growled. Her sharp eyes, that she had turned light red just for the added effect, were enough for Rouge to back off.

Scythe knew, that Shy had had a dark episode and could guess, that the uke in her arms had snapped her out of it.

She tended to keep the person responsible for 'showing her the light', as she usually called it, close for a while, until the darkness-powers were sealed again for good – which could take a while at times.

She remembered, that Mighty had had 'the honors' last time, about a year ago. He had been forced to carry her for a whole week with him. She made a mental note to explain this to the uke, though he didn't seem to mind being carried that much.

* * *

Thanks to her size, Scythe had crossed the hallway after a good minute and saw, how Amy was shepherding the ukes towards the elevator.

It was going much faster, when they saw the giant beast coming towards them. They practically dragged the girl in the cabin and in the corner farthest away from the door, before standing in front of her protectively.

Scythe just lowered herself to the ground and allowed Shy to move everyone off the way she had brought them up her back in the first place.

Once everyone was down, Scythe turned back. "Alright, get in and go to the ground floor, I'll follow you after.," the green hedgette told them. "Why don't you come with us?," Amy asked, her head poking out behind the thin hedgehogs.

"Do you want her in such a small space with this big scythe?," Shy asked, while she, Rouge and the remaining ukes entered the cabin. Thanks to the very underweight ukes, they could all fit in it without reaching the weight limit. The girl's question let everyone gulp and suddenly every single one of them was okay with leaving her behind.

* * *

Sonic didn't have time to accompany the ukes, no matter, how much he hated to leave them alone – they weren't in the ward for nothing, after all.

He had heard of course, that number 300 was coming back for more and couldn't afford a fight with them around. That's why he was now outside of the building and blocking the fist directed at him.

Fleetway was gone to Chaos knew where – he just hoped, that he wasn't causing chaos or anything like that.

Shaking the thoughts off, he concentrated on getting number 300 away from the building. He didn't want to know, how many more hits the building could take, before it collapsed. A kick was directed at him and he caught it, the force of the impact hitting the building, that shook for a second.

Gritting his teeth, Sonic managed to deliver a kick of his own and even though it didn't hurt the artificial creature, it was enough to push it off so he could fly away. He needed to get the fight away from the building!

His mind was running faster than his feet, trying to think about a suitable place for the fight, that could take who knew how long.

Angel Island? Too risky – Silver and Scourge were there and couldn't protect themselves right now (not to mention, that Knuckles would kill him for turning his home into a battlefield). The beach? Too close to the building. Paradise? As he had never been conscious, when he had been moved there and back, he had no idea, where it was and this wasn't the time to look for it.

A sudden sharp pain in his chest forced him to halt in mid-air and double over with his hands over his rib cage. He grunted, while he tried with all of his might to keep the Chaos Emeralds where they were. He felt them leaving him and usually, it was a pleasant feeling, even a refreshing one at times, but not now.

Until now, he had always let them go after a battle with a thought of 'All done, everyone's safe', but this fight was far from over and nobody was safe with this monster still able to hurt someone. Therefore, it felt, as if seven of his inner organs tried to leave his body and he didn't like it one bit.

To make it worse, number 300 wasn't able to recognize, that his target was weakened and attacked the totally unprotected hedgehog with full force, throwing him a long way down on thankfully dry – but sadly hard and rough – ground.

He slid a few meters over the sandy ground, before he stopped, his back touching the incoming waves of the sea.

"Sonic!," Mighty and Knuckles screamed at the same time, while Shadow ran to his love, who had just gotten smashed between them and the building on the beach.

"This idiot!," Knuckles cursed and ran with Mighty to the hedgehog, who got pulled out of the water by his love.

"Are you hurt?," Shadow asked worried, seeing, that the gold in his fur flickered now and then to blue, a sign, that he was losing his control over the Chaos Emeralds.

"N-nothing I can't handle.," was the shaky reply, while Sonic slowly pushed himself up. He almost fell down again, when his arms caved, but he managed to catch himself in time. Shadow watched helplessly, not sure, what he could do for his beloved uke.

"There he comes.," Mighty growled, he and Knuckles standing like a protective wall in front of the hedgehogs, facing the artificial creature, that came down to them, its eyes showing a tiny hint of confusion, but otherwise no emotion.

Hearing Mighty's growl, Sonic tried to stand up, but hadn't Shadow helped him, he would have collapsed again.

"Sonic, you're too exhausted to go on!," Shadow warned. "I'm fine, just give me a sec.," the blue hedgehog replied, although he was leaning almost his entire weight on Shadow.

Number 300 saw this time, that his target was weak and although the two other mobians in front of him irritated him a little with their protectiveness, he wouldn't let them stop him.

He disappeared – at least from Knuckles' and Mighty's point of view – and was coming quickly closer to his target.

Shadow looked around, drawing Sonic closer protectively in the process, trying to find the creature, but he knew, that he would probably not being able to react in time.

He flinched, when he heard something break behind him and felt something warm in drops on his back.

He quickly turned around and his jaw dropped. Mephiles stood there in the water, his right hand buried in number 300's chest. Blood dripped out of his wound in the sea between them.

"Why?," was all Shadow managed to say, while the three others watched in horror. Why should Mephiles of all people help him?

"He would have gone after Silver next, I couldn't risk that.," the immortal lied smoothly. In truth, he would like to know the answer to this, too. Seeing the blue hedgehog and his rival in deadly danger had activated instincts he didn't know he had and let him jump in his way. The hand through his chest was practically a reflex.

His green eyes widened in rare surprise, when the supposedly dead hedgehog moved and he suddenly felt a hand piercing his own chest.

He used a free hand to push the other off, stumbling a little back, when the hand left him. Number 300 stumbled, too, but both remained standing, with blood of different colors flowing out of the holes in their chests: Mephiles' was black, number 300's red.

"How...can you still stand?," Mighty asked, trying to wrap his head around this. "Easy, we both have something in common."

A wicked grin appeared on Mephiles' face. "We are in the most literal sense of the word _heartless_."

* * *

And another chapter done! Thanks for reading!

As I said before, I had to rewrite this chapter. I had uploaded two chapters around august, but they have been crap, so I took them off again and rewrote them (thank you to those, who want to contradict this, but we all know, that they were).

The reason for this was stress. During the summer I had a lot of stress, with my studying (an exam I was pretty afraid of had to be rescheduled, because the docent was ill for months and the longer the waiting period became, the more nervous I became) and in my private life. I won't tell much, just, that I had a lot of anxious waiting to do. Everyday my family was calling and asking for news and each time I had to tell them, that there weren't any. And each time I felt guilty, although I couldn't do anything about it (that's just the way I am).

All this stress was causing a writer's block - but I was too stressed to notice it. I guess, I didn't want to let you wait any longer and disappoint you with a long waiting period - and disappointed you with two crap chapters. Oh, the irony... Well, after I realized my mistake (that took me a few weeks...) I took them off and took a break for a month in that I didn't write at all at this story. It did me a lot of good, I was able to remember how I really wanted this story to continue (I changed almost everything, that happened in the original chapters 17 and 18, besides the stuff I truly want in there).

So, er...sorry for the wait and the bad chapters, I'll try to listen to me more. I have no idea, when I will be done with the next chapter, but I can reassure you, that I don't plan on ever abandoning a story - a few chapters just might take longer than others.


	18. My (father's) sins

Hello, I'm back! Sorry for letting you wait, I wanted to upload on 24th already, but I got down with a nasty cold, that kept me in bed until 26th (yep, I spent Christmas in bed, or sitting halfway dead around my family...) and I had to work on 27th and 28th. Thanks to the cold, I had less energy left after work and was forced to put my plans on editing this chapter, that I had thankfully finished before getting ill, to rest until I was done with work - and until the stupid internet worked with me. Seriously, I love my family, but their internet connection is the worst... Anyway, NOW I'm here and presenting you my new chapter.

 _ **WARNING!**_

Yep, there is a warning in this chapter. I just have the feeling, that I went a little too far with a small part of the story and put up the warning for good measure. You won't miss anything if you skip it, so please do this, if you are easily spooked/grossed out/traumatized by things you read. Thank you!

 _ **END OF WARNING!**_

Now, on with the story!

 **18: My (father's) sins**

"...You don't have a heart!?," Shadow managed to ask after a few seconds of shocked silence, in that nobody moved, not even number 300.

He knew, that Mephiles had no mercy, but it just wouldn't go in his head, that he truly lacked the important (if not most important) muscle in his chest – even he had a heart, though it didn't have an exactly necessary function, he could survive easily without its beating. His creator probably just added it so he would feel more normal.

"Oh, I _do_ have a heart, he does, too, we just aren't keeping them in our chests. It's such a hassle to recover it, if it gets damaged, you know?," Mephiles replied leisurely, enjoying the speechless Shadow.

It was rare enough to see him unguarded, he had last seen him like that, when he had presented himself in the agent's stolen look.

"And how do you do this?," Knuckles, who had recovered from his own shock, asked. "How can you not have it in you and still be fine?" This was starting to creep him out – and he had fought against a ghost once!

"In my case, I have my Black Magic to thank for that – but I highly doubt, that a simpleminded fool like this Perringten can actually understand the highly complex spells required for this – not to mention, that he could never get his hands on one of those. He probably used this _technology_.," he spat the last word with disgust.

All this modern stuff wasn't his style, he was age old after all and been freed in a world, that already had complicated technology. No wonder, that he had trouble with adjusting to present times.

He turned his head a little to look at the hedgehogs behind him. "The heart has to be here somewhere and I'm sure I could find it. If I can put it back in his chest, the chance to defeat this monster might actually be there."

He didn't kid himself – he had no idea, where this heart was, how it looked like (his own didn't resemble an anatomically correct heart, either) and if it was even possible to put it back, or to destroy it. However, he didn't see any other way to kill this thing otherwise, seeing, how fast it recovered.

As long as the heart was alive, his body would reconstruct itself as much as needed. They could hope, that it would tire itself out – but it wasn't clear, just how long this would take. In the worst case, the artificial creature could go on for days and that was something nobody of them could.

Already Mephiles could see, that the hole in its chest was completely closed, not leaving a trace of the wound, while his own torso was still open and bleeding. Not because he couldn't heal it, or something like that, but because he needed to bleed anyway.

"Do it." He snapped out of his thoughts, when he heard the voice and he turned a little more to see Sonic slowly getting back his balance, leaving Shadow's side. "I'll keep him occupied, so hurry.," he continued.

Mephiles had the strange feeling, that he just got a permission he had never asked for...or did he?

Abandoning the thought, he turned into a black-purple puddle, that was nothing but his blood containing his body. This way, he could reconstruct himself anytime he wished.

The fluid moved out of the water, with that it hadn't mixed in the slightest, and over the sand towards the building, Mighty and Knuckles jumping away from it, when it passed between them.

Shadow crinkled his nose. He hated it, when Mephiles did this, having seen it several times of course – Mephiles had often fled this way from him, disappearing in a shadow or through a crack to who knew where.

Shadow was thrown out of his thoughts, when he was suddenly showered with water and sand. He turned around quickly and had to see, that Sonic was gone – and number 300 was, too.

Cursing, he searched the sky and found them several meters over the beach, exchanging hits and kicks. Sonic's fur didn't flicker anymore, as far, as he could see it, he had willed the Chaos Energy somehow back in his body. But for how long would this last!?

* * *

Blush wasn't exactly thrilled right now. When she had suggested to take over the ninth floor, she had had no idea, that she would step out of the elevator and in an indoor-maze.

The hallways were narrow, so high you couldn't see the ceiling – and plastered with traps: Bullets and arrows, that shot out of the walls, trap doors, pillars with spikes falling on her, acid raining down, or mechanic arms shooting out and trying to grab her, all of those activated, if she took one wrong step.

The triggers for the traps were so carefully hidden in the floor, that she had no chance of detecting them and so far, she had probably activated them all.

Though it had been like some kind of training for her for a while, she would like to find an exit _now_. She should probably be happy, that the hallways were enlightened, otherwise she would have even more problems here.

Her antennas bobbed, when she suddenly felt movement under her feet. She jumped back just in time, when something broke through the metal floor, where she had been standing.

She immediately prepared herself in mere seconds for another trap – but wasn't prepared for the yellow glowing hedgehog, who suddenly stood in the air over the hole he had come through and grinned down on her.

"Ha, I knew I would find someone!," he cheered. "What are you doing here?," Blush asked astounded.

"Hm? Oh! Well, er, Blue told me to do something useful, so I thought I search for someone, who needs help. Wasn't this easy, I'll tell ya – I only found lots of humans."

He waved his hand, that was splattered with blood, leaving little to no room for speculations about what he did with the humans. "Then I had the idea to just go upwards without the stupid slow elevators – and bingo! I found you!" He seemed as proud as a little kid, who succeeded in doing something for the first time.

Blush wasn't as happy, though. Fleetway yelped, when he had to dodge a few needles thrown at him.

"Hey!," he complained, though he should rather be scared: The needles had left clear holes in the metal wall behind him.

"And the truth is?," Blush asked, guarded. "Wha-!? That was the truth, you crazy girl!," Fleetway raged.

"Uhuh. You aren't the type of person to obey others, so why should I believe one word of you?," Blush replied, distrust heavy in her sarcastic voice. "Would be new to me, that we met before.," Fleetway hissed.

"I'm an _assassin_ , you idiot. Accessing a person in a matter of seconds is my life insurance.," came the cold reply.

"Oh, really? Well first of all: If you knew Blue, you would do everything he says, too. And second: what is your 'accessing' telling you about how dangerous I am?"

With that, Fleetway tried to attack the stuck-up butterfly, but all it got him were needles in his arms, legs and neck, that let his whole body suddenly feel numb and crash to the floor next to her.

"I would feel more threatened by a toddler with a dagger.," the girl smirked, turned around and continued on her way. She would collect in the lunatic on her way back. He wasn't an enemy after all – just not the best acquaintance either.

Her antennas bobbed again, but this time, because she heard something. "If this idiot stopped me this short before my target, I will castrate him!," she thought angrily and carried on, following the noise through a tight net of traps, tighter than before, to a door, that was guarded with an electronic lock. The noise came from behind there, she was sure of it.

Blush crinkled her nose, when she looked at the electronic lock. Technology. She _hated_ technology!

Luckily, she knew a good and quick way to destroy it. With just one needle she attacked the little thing at the right spot to short-circuit it, making the doors open.

Smirking, she entered the room, but what she was seeing there, let her mimic change very quickly.

She stood in a dark room, that held only an arrangement of cages she could make out in the twilight. They stood against the right wall, stapled over each other. Each cage was empty, but she could see and smell the fresh blood coating the bars.

This was worse, than she had expected it to be. The cages had no floors, the caged hedgehogs would have to balance on the bars for hours, maybe days. And she couldn't even detect traces of food and water.

It was then, that she heard the whimper, that had led her here. She raised and opened her wings and they started to glow in a gentle red light, giving her a better view. In the back right corner, in the bottom cage, she discovered a curled up figure. She came closer and saw the small being starting to shiver.

Arriving and stopping in front of the cage, she discovered a simple, thankfully not electronic, padlock at its front. Always prepared for everything, she picked the lock with the tools she kept with her for cases like this.

In mere seconds, the lock fell off and she opened the door. The little creature didn't move besides maybe trembling harder and whimpering more.

Frowning, Blush got on her knees and reached inside, grabbed, as she couldn't provide light and crawl deeper in at the same time, one of the thin ankles and as gently as possible dragged the far too light being out. When it was finally in the shine of her light, she couldn't help but gasp.

In front of her seemed to be a hedgehog, thin, scarred, scared and heavily injured, but something just didn't look right, besides the obvious.

Her heartbeat quickened, when she realized something. Didn't hedgehogs...have quills? The back of his head and his back were completely quill-less, not a single one of these were visible anymore. The skin was heavily burned where they had been. She didn't know, if hedgehogs could grow their quills back in – but with scars in the way, it would be impossible. They took his only defense away from him for ever.

Her fists clenched and her jaws pressed so hard on each other, that her teeth started to hurt. The hedgehog in front of her...couldn't be older than twelve, if not younger. The abuse, the torture and the rape he had been through were still clearly visible.

Her antennas twitched in pure rage and her pupils became slits, something, that nobody saw and survived.

They had _dared_ to harm a child!

Before she could go on with her rage, she heard something behind her, coming from the hallway.

Steps. Someone was coming in her direction. She grinned. Good...she needed to relieve some stress, so they better hurried here!

Her training kicked in a second later, however, and told her, that she would need the moment of surprise for her own safety.

Therefore, she left the hedgehog's side, quickly retreated in the left corner from the door and wrapped herself in her large wings, the dark color of their outsides letting her blend with the darkness easily.

The sound of wheels rolling over the floor was audible now, too, and then voices. "Those rats aren't worth anything. One should think, that they by now know the maze.," a male voice said. So this was a life-size maze for their little lab rats, huh?

"What do you expect? They're just animals. They don't learn.," another answered and she could practically hear the shrug accompanying the statement, before a third one said: "Hey, the door is open!"

Three pairs of feet ran into the room, passing her without noticing it. "Everything okay, they didn't take number 011. Probably gave up on it, or something."

Blush curled her hands to fists. The temptation was great to just reveal herself and guide those assholes to hell where they belonged, but she couldn't risk the others to flee – they wouldn't have spoken like that, if all of them were already in the room.

She heard the wheels coming closer, together with four more pairs of feet and waited, until she was absolutely sure, that they were all there.

When she was, she unwound the wings around her and threw exactly seven needles, they all hitting their target and she watched, how the men collapsed, one even on the rather long cage on wheels, in that were more curled up figures. Happy with her flawless aim, Blush looked down on the men, whose spines she had just irreparable damaged with her needles penetrating their necks in the exact same spot. Four were wearing lab coats, while the other three were obviously guards. Their weapons were at their hips, but absolutely useless for their paralyzed arms.

"Just animals, huh?," she growled, watching with grim satisfaction, how the eyes of her victims flickered around in their holes in sheer panic.

"I'll tell you this: Animals can learn – and they will _never_ forget or forgive, what you have done to them. And now, I'd love to show you, how many ways there are to torture a human without killing him.", she explained and raised one of her needles to start with the first one, but a hand grabbed her wrist, before she could do anything else.

She whipped around and stared astounded – for the second time in an hour – in swirled red eyes. "Now, cutie-wing, I'm the first one to kill humans, but that's hardly the time for such things, is it?," the light seme asked with a grin.

Blush scowled and ripped her wrist out of his grip. "How did you come here? Who freed you?," she snarled. "Huh? Weren't these needles supposed to melt after a time? I mean, that's what they did!"

"Melt!? They weren't sugar canes, you know!?" Blush shook her head, quickly calming down from her pointless rage. "Doesn't matter now. Out of my way, I have something to settle here." She shoved the male away, but he just stepped in front of her again.

"No, you don't. Sorry, cutie-wing, but the ukes are the priority here. Besides," He came a little closer and spoke now softer. "do you really want them to fear you, too, like they do it with the humans already?," he asked.

Blush's eyes widened and she shifted her weight a bit to look to the cage, where she could see some of the ukes starting to move. They would see, what she had in mind for the humans – but hadn't they seen enough? They had learned to fear humans, to quiver in terror in their sole presence. Should they lose their trust in mobians next? See them as monsters, because she hadn't planned to be merciful...or very human with her victims...? She knew the answer to this, if she liked it, or not.

Finally, she looked to Fleetway, who knew exactly, what she had decided and was grinning like a maniac. "Call me 'cutie-wing' one more time and I will castrate you faster than you can say 'huh'. Got it?," she hissed, before putting back her needle. There was no way, that she would EVER say _You win_. That was never going to happen.

Fleetway still seemed to hear those words in her voice, though. "Got it, sweet-cheeks.," he smirked.

Blush just rolled her eyes and focused on the ukes. They lay in the cage, as if someone had thrown them there. They looked better than the single one she had found first, at least they still had their quills, but they had been obviously driven in the maze and hadn't have as much luck with avoiding the traps as her, they were covered in wounds and burns.

"We need to get them out of here, but we can't go the same way back, too many traps.," she said, more to herself, than to Fleetway, while pushing the one human off the cage.

The hedgehog still felt, as if she had meant him. "Then let's make another exit.," he announced and walked out of the room and to the right.

Before the girl could ask, what he meant, she heard an explosion, that shook the whole floor, and quickly ran out to see a giant hole to the outside in the wall, with Fleetway in front of it, looking pretty proud of himself.

"Okay...and how should we bring all of them down? We can't afford to fly several times.," she told him, barely concealing her surprise.

"Well, they are already packed comfortably, aren't they?," Fleetway grinned and walked back in the room, where he simply lifted the cage up, as if it weighed nothing. He seemed to glow a little in the process, though, as if he needed to gather some more energy for the task. It was a little calming to see, that he wasn't naturally this powerful after all.

"Wait a second.," Blush just said, went to the uke she had found first and picked the almost nothing weighing male up.

Carefully, she placed him on top of the cage. She couldn't bring herself to put him in it, although it was probably easy, as the cage didn't look locked. "Leave the room, but wait for me in the hallway. I'll come after you in a sec.," she ordered.

Fleetway didn't move. "Really, sweet-cheeks? Still wanting to murder?" "You bet I do! Now move, that shouldn't take a single minute."

"Fine, but you better hurry.," the seme shrugged and walked slowly out, so the one male on the cage wouldn't fall off – he was pretty sure, that 'cutie-wing' would stop being cute, if something happened to the little one.

He wasn't even remotely close to the hole he had made, when Blush caught up. "That was fast.," the seme said surprised. He would have needed a minute at last!

"Just punctured their lungs, that doesn't take long – but they will need very long, before they die. That has to do.," she shrugged, before taking the uke back in her arms. "Follow me.," she ordered, went to the hole and jumped through it. Her wings opened immediately and carried her and her passenger through the air.

When she looked back, she saw the light seme with the cage in front of him, floating without a problem.

* * *

They flew around the building towards the front, where they practically landed directly in a fight between number 300 and Sonic. Just narrowly they weren't hit by the two fighters, when the artificial creature tried to kick Sonic, who blocked.

Sonic kept the enemy away from them, as soon as he noticed the duo, but both, Blush and Fleetway could see, that the hero was struggling to keep up the fight.

Blush didn't hesitate anymore, when she saw Sonic getting punched in the jaw without making a move to prevent it.

She put the single uke in her arms back on the cage and flew over to the fight, throwing a few needles right into the creature's arm, paralyzing parts of it, which brought her the undivided attention from said being.

Number 300 looked at her strangely. This being was female...but...females were inferior, weak, useless! That was, what his programming was telling him since he could think! How...could this female being actually harm him, if he was the superior?

Sonic stared also at the girl. He had never seen her fight, so he couldn't estimate how good she could hold herself in battle. In the worst case, he would have to protect her, as she had made number 300 mad. Something told him, though, that she wouldn't need that.

Blush noticed the confusion of both males – and Fleetway, who was behind her still – and smirked. She was used to this, people tended to underestimate her because of her rather delicate figure – bad mistake. Just because she looked like a butterfly, didn't mean she couldn't sting like bee.

Her large wings shrunk on her command, letting them look half their size. They were thicker now, but she could easier and faster maneuver with them.

"Bring them to safety.," she ordered the stunned Fleetway, took out a fan and opened it, revealing sharp blades sticking out of the red fabric.

Without hesitating, she attacked, slicing the cheek of number 300, who could just in time dodge – otherwise his neck would have been the injured body part, if not even cut through completely.

"What? Too scared to fight back? Don't tell me you're one of those 'I don't hit girls'-guys. That would be just boring.," the girl smirked.

Number 300 looked at her and she could see, how all emotion drained from his eyes. "Finally.," she thought. The glare in his eyes was one of a person, who had nothing to lose and was ready to do everything now. In a condition like that, this creature would fight without any restraints – and it was her favorite way of fighting.

Her eyes shone, when she just narrowly escaped a deadly claw with a graceful turning of her body, her antennas telling her long before, how he would attack.

"Was that everything?," the butterfly laughed. Oh, she would enjoy it! And seeing, that the cut in his cheek was already healed, she could guess, that she would be able to play for a _very_ long time!

* * *

 _He looked up from the screen of his laptop, his eyes got tired from watching the endless strings of numbers flickering across it, while the machine was doing the math for him. He yawned and stretched – and turned around on his swivel chair, when he heard the door open._

" _Hello, Father." He wouldn't dare to call him anything more familiar like 'Dad', or something like that._

" _So?," the older man asked instead of a greeting. "I'm just doing the last checks, but I think, the building should be stable, your estimations didn't need any configurations." A lie, he had had to do all the work alone, but he would have never dared to say that._

" _How long?" "We can start tomorrow, all workers are informed. ...M-may I ask something?," he stammered a little._

 _Questions were a dangerous thing, if he didn't formulate them properly, his father might not speak with him again._

" _If you must." The old man leaned on his walking stick a little more, as if he wanted to say:_ If you are going to waste my time, I will at least have it comfortable. _"I-I'm just wondering. What are you going to do...when you have those hedgehogs you want?," he asked carefully._

 _He wasn't stupid, he knew, that his father wasn't just randomly picking hedgehogs to live on this island for nothing. He had an intention, but which one? It was so confusing, but he seemed to search for something, he was sure of it._

 _All he was offered was a smirk, that let_ his _blood freeze in an instant, but wasn't dangerous at all for his past self. "You'll see." And the old man turned and left the room._

 _Once the door closed, he turned back to the screen, leaning a bit forward, so he could see his pale face in the reflection of the screen. A big grin was evident on his face. He would see it! He would be involved!_

 _He angled his face a little. If he used enough of his fantasy, he looked just like a second Jester Perringten..._

* * *

"AAAHHH!" John quickly jumped up with a scream – until the already sore back of his head made a painful encounter with something unforgivably hard, that let him collapse again. Sadly, the impact didn't knock him out – considering the world of pain he was in right now, he would have welcomed that.

After a few minutes of just staying still and breathing, the pain lessened at least enough to move. Carefully, John lifted himself a little, before he pushed himself a bit backwards and then up, thankfully not bumping his poor head this time.

He blinked to clear his blurry vision and saw the railing of the staircase he was on in front of him. He had probably bumped his head against the underside of the railing, when he had come to his senses.

The memories came back to him now, he had been on the floor -11 for just a minute, when he had felt a hit on the back of his head, then also pain on his forehead and then he had seen only black...

"Nothing like a good nightmare to wake up to, huh?," he thought bitterly, remembering the dream, that had ended his unconsciousness abruptly. The worst part was – it hadn't been a nightmare. It had been a memory. He could slap himself senselessly for ever worshiping this man...this monster... That he ever wanted to be like him...

Shaking off his self-hatred (for now), he grabbed the metal railing and used it to pull himself up on his feet. He had to stop and wait for the nausea to die down, before he could look around. Everything seemed like before...

He squinted – which didn't go well with his sore head – when he noticed, that one of the strange glass containers he had discovered before seemed...open?

On trembling legs he started to make his way down the stairs, every step hurting his head badly.

He should have maybe just stayed lying down until someone had come, but there were two reasons why he didn't: one, the only one, who would care about him being injured was Kylie and she didn't even know, that this floor existed and two, he wanted to know, what these things down there were.

At the end of the stairs, he hesitated to let go of the railing, not sure, if he could keep his balance alone at all.

He noticed a movement on his right and turned his head just in time to see something white disappear behind the giant machine.

"Hello?," he called, but didn't receive an answer. He frowned – who could that be? It had been too small for a human...

His curiosity won and he let go of the railing to stagger towards the machine, but from the other side than the stranger, to hopefully catch whoever was there off guard. But he had been too slow apparently, behind the machine was nothing but an empty chair, standing against the back wall.

He walked a little further behind the machine, just to make sure, that he didn't oversee any hiding spot, which wasn't the case.

He turned around towards the giant object finally, not knowing, that he would regret this for the rest of his life.

 _ **WARNING!**_

The back of the machine wasn't closed up like the front, it had a transparent wall. Although it was thoroughly splattered with layers of blood, fresh and old, of all shades from red to black, it couldn't conceal, what was behind it. Circular saws. Dozens of them, getting smaller and more the lower they got. John's eyes trailed the monstrosities up and discovered a funnel-like structure over the saws. Whatever fell through this hole...got cut into tiny pieces, probably in so tiny pieces, that they were barely seen as pieces anymore, but rather as a fluid. He looked a little closer and discovered to his horror, that in the blood coating the saws were sticking bits of fur, quills and pieces of bones or teeth. The horror didn't stop there, though. The quills didn't all look, as if they belonged to mature hedgehogs...

 _ **END OF WARNING!**_

Gradually, John staggered backwards, until the back of his knees made contact with something, that let him fall and plop on it. Oh, right, the chair... Slowly, the realization dawned on him.

The chair...

He sat here. His father _sat_ here and watched...how these ukes... and the pups... He swallowed the bile, that rose in his throat, with all his might.

So this was, why they had these chutes on all floors, he realized somewhere in the back of his head. And this was, where all the pups were...

He breathed a few times through his nose, while he tried to keep his posture. Why? Just WHY!? Why did he do this!?

He turned his head a little to stare dully at the tubes, that led away from the horror-machine and towards the glass containers. He started to realize, why the fluids in them were red.

 _Father, may I ask something?_

He jumped, when the memory forced itself in his brain.

 _Why do you need hedgehogs anyway?_

No...

 _Why don't you just take some hedgehog-blood, from a hospital, or so, and simply create your wanted hedgehog?_

No!

 _And how should I stabilize this creation?_

 _W-well...er...how about you just-_

NO! No, I didn't mean it, I swear!

 _-just use another hedgehog, you know, for a stabilizing fluid. There are enough of them, aren't there?_

That did it.

He leaned over and just vomited, his stomach content splattering on the floor between his feet. He had the feeling, that he would never be able to eat enough to cough up as much as he needed to right now.

It was his fault. These mobians died the probably most horrifying death there was – because of him.

After a while, he only retched dryly and finally, he had recovered enough to stand up and move away from the vomit.

His legs trembled, but he somehow managed to walk. He didn't dare to lean against or touch the machine for support, although he could need it. He felt, as if the blood in the machine was on him, sticking to his skin forever. That was bad enough, he didn't need to make it worse by touching it. This was, how he saw it: the imaginary blood on his skin just getting thicker, layered over the old one...

His stomach turned again at the thought, but he wasn't going to get sick... hopefully. Still, he picked up the pace a little, just to be safe.

A pair of white furred bare feet was suddenly in front of him in his line of vision and he stopped to slowly raise his head. Not too far away from the machine he had tried to avoid, stood a mobian hedgehog with his arms crossed.

The young man blinked. The mobian had pure white fur, untainted of all the things, that happened here – something, that not even Silver had managed to achieve – and silvery eyes. His quills were short and bent down and he missed his left ear. A sad smile was on his lips.

John looked a little closer, but stayed, where he was. The hedgehog seemed...transparent, he could see the ground and walls shining through parts of his body. "Are...you a ghost?," he asked carefully, feeling pretty stupid the moment the words had come out. Seriously, that was a ridiculous thought!

The mobian just smiled a little sadder and looked up, towards the funnel. John followed his stare, but couldn't discover anything interesting there.

"What should-?" He turned back to the hedgehog while speaking, but stopped, when he saw, that the other was gone.

"Okay, this head injury is a little worse than I thought. I'm having hallucinations.," he thought and continued his way, just too willingly bringing distance between himself and the horrible machine.

He made his way over to the arrangement of glass containers, his curiosity for them slowly replacing his burning feelings of guilt and sickness.

After a while, with lots of breaks in between to catch his breath, he finally managed to reach the objects. The containers were taller than him and almost all, besides one on his right, were closed and filled with a red fluid. He tried not to think about the stuff's origin...

Strangely formed shadows were behind the fogged over glass and caught his attention. Were this...?

Slowly, he wiped the condensed water off the nearest container and flinched back, when he came face to face with another hedgehog, though this one wasn't transparent at all.

His... _its_ eyes were closed and it was slightly bobbing up and down. It seemed male and maybe eighteen years old, though John knew enough about artificial creatures to guess, that it wasn't remotely as old as it looked. Its dark, maybe even black, fur was gently moving around its body in the stream of something, that was getting pumped into the container.

While he watched it, its arm suddenly turned white, flesh and fur alike, and then dissolved, coloring the fluid, where it had been, black for a second, before turning red again. John stumbled back in shock. What the hell!?

"Hm, interesting, didn't know, that humans could do that. You've got to tell me your secret." "AAAHHH!" John jumped at the sudden voice behind him and whirled around, which caused him to lose his balance and fall down, hitting his suffering head against the hard glass of one of the containers.

"OW!" Rubbing the sore spot – somehow, he had managed to hurt the same spot twice, judging by the feeling he had – he looked up to discover Mephiles, who stood a few meters away from him and was watching the young man with an emotionless face.

"Wh-what are you doing here?," he wondered, slightly wincing, when his fingers brushed a very sore spot.

"Watching you.," was the short reply. John resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was well aware, that the other was a pretty powerful seme – and his uke nowhere in sight to hold him back, if he was pissed, so he better stayed on his good side.

"No, I meant, how did you come here?," he rephrased his question. "I traveled by shadow." "...I'm not pretending like I know, what this means." "And I'm not going to tell you.," Mephiles replied dryly.

"Why are you here?" Slowly, John pushed himself up, while he asked, using the glass containers for support and finally managed to bring himself up to his feet. "I'm looking for number 300's heart.," Mephiles shrugged.

The human stopped his tries to find his balance and blinked a couple of times. "You're... doing what?," he asked finally, completely confused.

"Number 300, a current pain we are dealing with. Judging by the other hedgehogs I see behind you, I'm pretty sure, that he came from here." The dark hedgehog pointed to the empty container, while he was talking. He was aware, that the human in front of him had most likely never seen the creature or heard of it.

"But...why searching for his heart? I mean... shouldn't it be...in his chest?," John asked carefully. As naturally as Mephiles was talking about the body and heart as separate things, he had the feeling, that it was something he should know.

"That's the typical speaking of a narrow-minded human." The dark seme shook his head. "No, his heart isn't in his chest, mine neither, but that's beside the point. He's getting his energy from somewhere here, I'm sure of it, which means, that his heart is here. Any idea where?" John needed a minute to digest that. "I...I don't know...," he finally stammered.

"Then I suggest, that you think about something real quick, because I would _hate_ to destroy EVERYTHING here and maybe cause an explosion, that might hurt my Silver.," Mephiles growled, suddenly uncomfortably close to John, who felt threatened, even though the dark seme barely reached his belly button. _I'll turn you into a pile of ash, if you aren't useful for me._ , seemed to be the hidden message behind his words and John believed it.

His eyes darted around wildly to quickly find something, that would give the other answers, before he would give him a first taste of his threat.

He then spotted the door at the highest end of the stairs he had woken up on. "I-I might find something there!," he quickly said and pointed to the door, hoping, that it would actually be a way to figure this heart-thing out.

* * *

"Wow, they're so tiny...," Kylie thought, looking down on the two small bundles in front of her.

Forest had had twins, two perfectly healthy girls, who were currently sleeping peacefully in clean blankets.

They were very small, each one of them fitting easily in her hand, which made them less than half the size of a normal grown human newborn. Both had brown furs – still very short and not as thick as a mature hedgehog's, of course –, like their mother, and their bent down and still soft quills had black tips, probably from the father.

Just a few minutes ago they had been done, the C-section had been performed without any problems, besides a few strange quakes, that had forced them to pause for a few seconds – thankfully never during a critical phase.

She had, after the closing of the wound, that wouldn't leave a scar, freed the still sleeping Forest from his restraints and given him an injection to neutralize the rest of the sedative in his blood and for him to hopefully wake up soon.

She had covered him with a blanket for the time being and placed the little girls on an emptied table for instruments, so that he would see them first, as soon as he woke up. Until she was sure, that he would wake up, she would stay, where everything was, that she would need to help him, if he wouldn't.

Only one of the soldiers, the wolf mobian, had stayed with her to escort her and the small family down, the other two were gone to see, if Tails and Bokkun needed help.

"Lupe, was it?," Kylie finally broke the silence, though she kept her voice low to not wake the pups.

"Yes.," the female replied from her place next to the exit, where she leaned against the wall with crossed arms.

"I don't want to appear rude or anything, but...why would you...well..." Kylie hesitated. She was feeling pretty stupid for even beginning to ask this.

Lupe, however, guessed her thoughts. "...work for GUN?," she finished the sentence and Kylie nodded.

"I understand your confusion – I wouldn't work for these people, if I had a choice..," the female replied with a bitter tone.

"Then...why?," Kylie asked carefully. "GUN's top men aren't stupid...at least not, when it comes to power. They are well aware, that there are clans and packs of mobians, who have...useful abilities. Abilities, that humans don't have or even CAN'T have. They therefore try to find those packs and clans and 'coax' these to work 'with' them."

"They forced you, didn't they?" "Indeed they did. My pack I led was strong and vital, every fight we won by standing together, watching each other's back, almost reading the thoughts of each other. It was this kind of instinctual teamwork, that attracted the people of GUN. They approached us and offered me a job at GUN with colorful promises. I wasn't interested, but then they hinted, that our young 'wouldn't be able to stay safe', if I refused." "That's disgusting.," Kylie spat.

"True, but I did agree anyway. Otherwise, they would have come again and again after us and it would probably have ended badly for my family. I never lost my distrust, though. I know, that they will keep me low for a while, then 'promote me to a higher rank' for some imagined reason and 'trust me' with the training of new recruits, hoping, that I will use my 'wolf mobian-tricks' to make them a perfect fighting unit." "These idiots. Is there no way out of this for you?," Kylie asked.

Lupe was mildly surprised to hear true compassion in the human woman's voice. It was nice to know, that there was even in a place like this still a human with a heart as big as hers.

"No worries, I have my escape already planned. They will regret messing with my family.," she grinned, showing off her razor sharp fangs in a way, that didn't make Kylie keen on asking for details.

A small groan saved her from the silence, that threatened to rule again and she looked down.

Forest had come back to his senses and opened his eyes, while she watched. He discovered the two blankets in front of him, his nose twitched and he immediately sat up, his eyes wide, while he looked at the two pups with a dropped jaw.

Kylie smiled and gently picked each pup up to give them to Forest, who took them and curled his arms around them, as soon as they were remotely close to him.

"They're... mine?," he asked after a few seconds, barely able to believe it. After all this time he finally saw two of his young.

The little ones noticed the scent of their mother nearby and woke up, whimpering helplessly, as they were blind and deaf for the next seven days.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here, everything is just fine.," Forest cooed, nuzzling them, until they stopped crying and fell back to sleep, thankfully they didn't want to feed right now.

"I'm sorry, that you can't spend more time with them alone, but we need to go.," Kylie regretfully interrupted the moment. Now, that Forest was awake and obviously stable, they needed to leave as soon as possible.

Forest nodded and allowed the woman to help him off the table. Once his feet touched the ground, he nearly collapsed, though, and Kylie had to take him on her arms. Of course, he had been bound to a bed for months and not moved at all – and she scolded herself for forgetting that.

As Forest weighed little to nothing and his young, too, she just held the mature hedgehog in her arms, while he held his pups. "Is it okay, if I carry you?," she asked, to make sure, that he was comfortable with it.

"Sure. You could have done that all along, you know?," Forest reminded her, clearly wanting as much space between him and this place as possible.

"I needed to be sure, that you would wake up in the period of the next twenty minutes and here's everything I would need to treat you, if you wouldn't have.," Kylie replied and they left the surgery and then the ward to go to the small elevator. Forest kept looking at his pups, not wanting to see this place ever again.

As there were no pregnant ukes in the ward or in the hallway anymore, Kylie guessed, that Tails had found the elevator, where they transported the beds with, if necessary, and in that could fit more people. They were probably already all on Angel Island.

* * *

When the smaller elevator's doors opened on the ground floor, however, she saw, that this wasn't even halfway true: she looked in a hallway flooded with hedgehogs, arrested workers of this place and soldiers.

Judging by the posture of the closest mobians, they were semes. Their dark glares weren't really trust-building.

In her arms, Forest curled himself around his babies protectively. "And now?," Lupe asked, her hand already on the gun at her hip.

"Don't use it, just go. If we aren't posing a threat, they won't harm us. Just don't make eye contact." Kylie was no expert for semes, but she knew at least the basics.

"Forest, close your eyes and keep them that way until I say so, okay?," she continued. The uke just nodded and closed his eyes, curling up a little more. His quills poked her body, but were thankfully blunt due to his long time here.

He was nervous, she could tell – and it would become worse, if he saw all eyes on him, which would be the case. He was a mother in the hands of a potential danger (her). One whimper of him, and they would 'save' him – and shred her in the process.

Taking a deep breath, she started to go. She could feel, that countless eyes were boring in her, but she kept looking to the ground, making her way through the reluctantly parting mass with steady, strong steps, showing at the same time, that she was neither afraid, nor looking for a fight.

After several minutes, she came to the end of the mass, that was a little away from the exit they had used earlier as their entrance.

On the other side of the exit were the ukes with Shy, who had an orange furred uke in her arms like a plushie, the soldiers, who had been with her, and Scythe between them and the semes, standing there seemingly randomly, but building a wall to protect the ukes. Those ukes, who weren't pregnant, built a second wall, protecting the carrying ones as well on instinct.

A groan let her eyes snap to the two figures at the wall to her right, in front of the girls and soldiers, and she blinked.

The Commander of GUN sat halfway on the floor and against the wall, his chest ripped practically open, his uniform only a pattern of blood soaked rags.

"Argh, careful, you fleabitten twerp!," he just hissed at the clearly unamused Tails, who tried to stop the bleeding by pressing a completely soaked cloth on the injury.

Kylie came out of her slight stupor hearing that, rolled her eyes and stepped around the two to the confused Shy. "Forest, don't get scared, okay? I'll put you in the arms of my friend Shy, a teenage girl." The hedgehog just nodded, but trembled a little.

Shy's mouth was open, while she let the uke in her arms down and held the body parts then out to take the little family. She was clearly too overwhelmed for words or reactions other than instinctual ones.

"Thanks, dear, I'll make it up to you, promise!," Kylie smiled overly friendly, pretending, as if she and Shy were best friends, knowing, that it would keep Forest calm.

The woman then turned to Towers and knelt down in front of him, examining the wounds. If she saw this right, she knew those injuries. Scourge had gotten the same ones just a little while ago...

"What happened?," she asked, while carefully pulling off the fabric from the exposed flesh, earning groans and hisses from the wounded.

"This monster...number 300...it attacked...killed everyone...I somehow...crawled here...," Towers reported between his sounds of pain.

Well, it was good, that nobody had tried to go out, then – if she remembered correctly, this strange creature should kill everyone _outside_.

Kylie was done now and looked more closely at the wounds. They were deep, at times, she could see the ribs, or even the heartbeat through the blood, the corners of the cuts slightly infected already. Some dirt and sand was in them.

From what she could guess, Towers just survived, because number 300 had underestimated, how strong he needed to scratch. The clothes, his muscles, height, width and the many medals on his chest, that had been sliced through, too, had saved the man's life...for now. He was still losing blood and it would soon become dangerous.

She thought about a solution for this and then remembered something. "Bokkun? Bokkun! Has someone seen him?," she called before asking.

"Kylie!," the robot chirped happily and came flying over the heads of the startled ukes. Thankfully, he didn't try to hug her this time, she had still bruises from last time...a few hours ago. "I helped everyone down here!," he said proudly. Tails on Kylie's other side huffed.

"Good job.," Kylie praised the robot with a pat on the head. "Ready for another mission?," she asked, a challenge in her voice.

"Sure!," the robot said happily. "I need you to go to Angel Island, search for the suitcase I had with me and bring it to me.," Kylie told him, as if he got the most important job in the whole universe. As he wasn't organic, this number 300 wouldn't pay attention to him...she hoped so, at least.

"Okay!" The little robot was thankfully not realizing, what danger he could step out to, too concentrated on doing her a favor.

He was almost out the open door, when Kylie held him back once more. "And I expect a full report, when you come back, okay?," she added with a playfully authoritative voice. Bokkun saluted. "Yes sir-er...mam...!," he said and scurried out.

Kylie chuckled and turned her head to the uke-side of the hallway, where she could hear now some commotion.

She smirked, when she saw Amy's legs far away from her, behind countless ukes, who refused to let her pass. With so many potentially dangerous semes, humans and monsters around, they would keep her safe from harm – even against her will, if necessary.

"Sonic's okay, right?," Tails asked next to her, letting her turn around again. He looked at the opening, through that Bokkun had vanished.

The sun was streaming through the door, making it impossible to see something outside, the half-dead Towers had been a pretty good proof, that it couldn't be very nice there, though, and the fox was worried out of his mind.

"Useless...little...vermin...," Towers groaned, before the woman could answer. Kylie frowned, took the soaked rag from Tails' hand and rammed it 'a little' too tightly in one of the wounds, letting the man scream out and glare at her. "Oh, I'm _terribly_ sorry, was that too hard?," she asked innocently. The ones, who had seen this exchange, snorted around them.

* * *

It looked, as if number 300 tried to fight a red tornado. Blush danced around him, her fan, needles and daggers cutting him again and again, while the girl was at the same time avoiding the other's claws and Chaos Spears easily and gracefully. At times, the needles and knives were staying stuck in him, blocking his ability to move slightly more with every new object added.

It said something, that number 300 used the attack he needed last to destroy Eggman's robot to try and hit the girl. He didn't see her as an easy target, which was both, interesting – and offending.

"She isn't half bad...," Knuckles admitted, while watching the fight far over them. As long as it was up there, they couldn't do anything.

"True. The air is her element, nobody can beat her there.," Mighty replied, watching Blush, too. He knew, that she would relocate the fight further down, as soon, as she would feel the need of reinforcement.

Currently, she was just enjoying the fact, that she could fight someone in the air. Her friends could only stay above the ground with Shy's help, but she had her limits concerning time and the possibilities of movements and techniques, therefore it was pretty boring for her.

He flinched out of his thoughts, when he saw something in the corner of his eyes moving, but it was just a little robot, that ran past them to Angel Island.

"Isn't that one of Eggman's?," he asked, as he hadn't have a battle with the crazy doctor in a while and really couldn't remember all of his minions.

"Hm?" Knuckles followed his line of vision. "That's just Bokkun, we have to thank him, actually. Without him, Kylie would have never found- Wait a second... BOKKUN! GET OFF MY ISLAND, **NOW**!" And off he was, leaving Mighty, who just shook his head at his friend's behavior.

* * *

Sonic had to land eventually, it was getting harder and harder to keep the Emeralds in him again.

He had no idea, how exactly he had pushed them back before so he could fight number 300 once more – it...just had happened and he hadn't questioned it. Now, it would be really nice, if this could happen a second time.

"Sonic, please, don't force them. You'll end up hurting yourself!," Shadow warned, kneeling next to him. "I don't... exactly have... a choice..., there are still... so many... of them... in the building.," Sonic replied between his panting, making Shadow even more concerned about his health. There was only so much his shared immortality could heal...

"Hey, Sonic!" "Huh?" Both hedgehogs turned to the voice and saw Bokkun, standing just a few steps away from them, with a big suitcase in his hand and an angry Knuckles behind him.

"How are you?," the robot asked. "...What?," Sonic managed to bring out after a few seconds. Since when did anything from Eggman care about his condition!?

"How are you? I need to know, Kylie wants a full report, when I'm back.," the robot repeated and explained. He obviously thought, that a 'full report' included everyone's current health.

"Kylie? Where is she now?," Sonic asked, perking up, when he heard her name. "In the building, next to the exit. She takes care of a mean human, he said, this strange hedgehog killed everyone, but him. Is it true?"

"What does the human look like?," Shadow asked, before Sonic could answer. "Hm? No idea, I didn't look, but he's mean. He called Tails names, when he wanted to help!," Bokkun answered.

Shadow growled lowly. This description, as short as it was, was helpful enough. Of course, the Commander couldn't just do him the favor and die, could he?

"Who is with Kylie and Tails right now?," Sonic asked, ignoring Shadow's quite angry growls and hisses. "Well...everyone...humans, these scary girls and many, many hedgehogs. They could go out of there, if they wanted, but they're afraid.," the robot explained. "I see. Tell them to leave this hellhole and to go to Angel Island, I'll cover them. They'll be safe there, Knux can protect them."

Knuckles, who had heard that of course, frowned. How did Sonic know, that he had the knowledge to activate the protective spells of the Master Emerald? Heh, and he always thought, that he wouldn't listen to what he told him and Tails. Seems, like he was wrong after all.

"Go!," Sonic ordered Bokkun, who seemed a little unsure, if he should obey. After the order, though, he quickly ran back to the building, while Sonic himself forced himself back on his feet. If the Emeralds worked with him again or not, he would give his everything to protect those hedgehogs.

He jumped, when dark arms with red stripes on them suddenly came out from both sides behind him, crossed in front of him and pushed him gently back against a firm chest. His quills pressed immediately close to himself as to not hurt his seme. "Shadow?," he wondered – he didn't ask, if it was him, he knew that of course, but why he did that, now, of all times!

A chin was placed on his right shoulder and he heard the dark agent sigh softly and almost...regretfully?

"I'm sorry, Sonic, I really am, but I can't stand seeing you suffer like that any longer. I hope, you can forgive me, one day.," he murmured. Sonic felt, how his heartbeat quickened, and not in a good way – what should that mean?

"Shadow? Wh-?" The question died on his lips, when he suddenly felt all Chaos Emeralds leaving him at once.

It wasn't like before, where they just pushed against his body's walls, it rather felt, as if someone was sucking them out of him, with his body powerless to restrain them any longer.

He tried to keep them back still, but it was no use, they simply left him and with them all remains of his preserved energy, making his body go limp against his will. "Sh-Shadow...why?," he managed to bring out, before he was swallowed by darkness.

* * *

Knuckles watched in horror, how Sonic suddenly collapsed and turned back to his blue furred self in the other's arms, those were the only things keeping him upright.

Carefully, Shadow changed his grip, gently scooping his love in his arms, his head lolling against his shoulder.

"What did you do to him!?," Knuckles raged, but one icy glare of the dark seme was enough to let him back off a little and calm down. He suddenly had the feeling, that he was responsible for all bad things, that ever happened, just through this glare.

"I took the Chaos Emeralds from him." While Shadow spoke, his fur started to glow and turned from black to a silvery gold color.

"I had to do it, he wouldn't have stopped, until..." Shadow looked down on the hedgehog in his arms, letting the rest of the sentence drop.

The echidna would probably fill the gap with 'until he would have died' and this was fine with him. Sonic should be the fist one to learn from his immortality, not one of his friends.

He pecked his love's forehead briefly before giving him reluctantly to Knuckles. "Watch over him, I will be busy." And he was gone, just as Knuckles went to argue.

The guardian sighed and looked down on his friend. "You owe me for this, big time.," he grumbled and carried him off to the temple.

* * *

Blush raised a brow, when another hedgehog joined her fight. He was as golden as the lunatic and the hero before, but definitely another one.

"In case you haven't noticed it yet, I don't need help.," she growled, not looking forward on sharing her fun just now.

"You'll need it soon.," was the only answer she got, but didn't question it. She heard, that he didn't say more on purpose – the enemy was listening, after all.

Instead, she simply opened her fawn again. "Well then, care to join my little dance?," she grinned, getting a smirk as answer.

* * *

"ARRRRGH!" "Would you hold still already!?," Kylie growled, while she tried to stitch up the wounds on the Commander's chest.

Although she had thought about packing sterile needles, thread suited for stitching and a sedative for a local anesthetization, she had done this thinking, that she would maybe need it for three mobians, not a human, who had about twice of their combined mass – and more injuries, than she had estimated while packing.

Not only was the sedative not strong enough and only dulling the pain slightly, the thread wasn't enough, too, forcing Kylie to leave gaps between the stitches.

It would look very ugly, when this had scarred, but she couldn't help it right now – at least he would be alive to look ugly.

As he was in pain, even with the sedative, several of the others around her tried to help keeping him from flailing his limbs because of the agony. 'Trying' being the key word here, as none of the soldiers dared to take part in 'torturing' their boss.

Kylie understood, why Lupe didn't help – the Commander would have a fit – and the female soldiers she understood, too, they weren't strong enough. But that the males obviously expected Rouge (who had no problems with manhandling her boss, it seemed), Amy, who had finally found a way past her unwanted guardians, and a few more courageous, but simply too light, ukes to hold the strong man down enough for the treatment...

Most of the time, she had to keep him down with one hand and use the other to stitch. It got more complicated, when she had to do the stitching with her weak hand, when she had to switch.

After what felt like an eternity, she was finally done and wrapped the wounds tightly. "Kylie, Sonic said-," Bokkun started again. "I know.," Kylie interrupted him tiredly.

For some reason, he had returned with the full intention to get them all out of the building, because Sonic told him so. The hero was an Alpha alright, but that he could even reach a robot with his authority...

Right now, she didn't want to hear it, as she had heard it several times already in the last thirty minutes. Bokkun seemed to think, that Sonic would turn him into scrap metal, if he didn't carry out his order. Nobody had wanted to move anyway, no matter, how much the robot had annoyed them, as if the Commander's condition was some kind of indicator if they could leave the building, or not.

Exhausted, Kylie wiped her sweaty hair out of her face, smearing a little of the Commander's blood on it, that still was on her hands. The rest she wiped off with a cloth.

Well, now, that the man was treated, there was nothing holding them back anymore, she guessed. Already, some of the semes were shuffling, looking, as if they wanted to carry the human. This she wanted to prevent, he was far too heavy – and unwilling – for semes in this halfway starved condition.

She turned to the soldiers and picked three of the rather large and bulky ones out. "You will carry him.," she ordered and gave them a very dangerous glare, when they went to argue. Immediately after her glare, the three hurried closer and surrounded their boss, unsure of how to grab him. They seemed to think, that he would explode, if they touched him.

Kylie rolled her eyes and told two to take his arms and the third to take his legs. The men weren't thrilled, but that wasn't exactly her problem.

Finally, they were good to go and Kylie watched, how some semes already left the building, before the three soldiers and the Commander could go out. After them followed the pregnant ukes and then the non-carrying ones, forcing Kylie, the other females and Tails and Bokkun with them out, before the rest of the semes and the male soldiers could leave.

Kylie thought their strange procession over and then understood it. The safety of the crowd. Their instincts told them how to go: a few semes first, to make sure, that there was no attack, then the injured and pregnant ones, followed by the ukes, females and children, who would bring the injured and carrying ones with them to safety if necessary, and then the rest of the semes to cover them.

They were so caught up in their instincts, that they didn't even realize, that there were humans in their group. The arrested just stayed with the semes and male soldiers and with the female soldiers as well – obviously, hedgehogs had rarely prisoners, that's why their instincts didn't tell them anything about this.

She jumped, when a sharp wind brushed over her and looked up to see a golden glowing Shadow between her and a number 300 with countless needles and daggers in his body. Blush was just on her way over to them, she got obviously out-sped.

"Go! I'll distract him! You'll be safe on the other island!," the dark seme called over his shoulder, letting everyone speed up. The not carrying ones were gently pushing the pregnant ukes to let them go faster, some even tried to do the same with the soldiers carrying the Commander.

"Where's Sonic!?," Tails shouted to Shadow, while he, and Kylie, who attempted to listen in, tried not to get swept away by the mass.

The seme didn't answer, he merely pushed number 300 away, who got then attacked by Blush, before Shadow joined them. Sonic was nowhere in sight, but wouldn't he join the battle?

Kylie looked away from the fight to Tails, who seemed close to tears. He knew the fact, that Sonic would never avoid a fight, better than Kylie.

She knelt down next to him, the others passing them simply. "Hey, I'm sure, he's okay and around here somewhere. Let's look for him, alright?," she soothed.

Tails nodded, fighting his tears and sniffing. "O-okay." Kylie smiled and they made their way over to Angel Island, not noticing, that someone hadn't come with them as said person was supposed to...

* * *

"Hm, I need to take it back, human." "...what?," John mumbled distractedly. He tried desperately to find some kind of useful information about number 300, but so far, he had only found formulas and programs, that had been crammed in its brain. Mephiles, who had waited outside, had just spoken up and shattered his concentration.

"I thought, that it had been your doing with the dissolving body parts, but I was wrong, I guess. It continues, without you being close.," the dark seme explained.

John's fingers froze over the keyboard. "Huh?" He turned around to see the hedgehog sitting on the railing outside of the laboratory with his back to him.

Slowly, John stood up and walked next to him, looking down on the containers. Even from the distance, he saw, how the head, the only remaining thing of the hedgehog he had discovered before, disappeared the way its arm had once.

He frowned. Until now, he had also thought, that he had somehow done this – not with any powers, as Mephiles had thought, but maybe by wiping away the condensed water and letting in more light than its body could handle, or something like that. But the glass was fogged over again and they were too far away to influence anything...

His eyes widened, he rushed around and ran back to the computer, practically hammering on the keyboard. His heart beat faster than normal, while the new page opened. He stared at the words, once they were there, his arms falling to his sides, suddenly feeling powerless.

"That's...that's...," he mumbled, not able to bring it out, turning around and leaving the office, without really realizing it. He made his way downstairs, not even noticing, that he almost pushed Mephiles off the railing, when he passed him.

"Hey!," he complained, but didn't get a reaction out of the young man, who continued down the stairs.

Mephiles frowned at that. The human had before – rightfully – quivered in his presence, why was he ignoring him now?

He blinked to change his sight, something he could do whenever he wanted to see things, that were invisible for the mortal eyes. He was having a guess already what could be wrong and really, now, that he could see the man's aura, he saw it darkened with guilt.

Right, that had been, what lured him down here in the first place. The dark energy, that he had thought he could use to feed a little...

Surprised to find out, that he had actually found number 300's origin, he had intended to use the human for his mission to find the heart, but he seemed to be too unstable for it.

He raised a brow, when he saw the human in front of the now unoccupied container, having both hands and his forehead pressed against it. The guilt rolled off him, flooding the floor already.

"Human, what are you doing there?," Mephiles asked, slipping off his seat and sinking to the floor, landing gracefully and unharmed, like a cat would.

"I...found the heart.," the human mumbled, his voice almost too soft, even for Mephiles' sensitive ears. "Really? Where?," the seme wondered.

John took one of his hands off the glass, balled it to a fist and let his index finger straight. With it, he poked the glass of the container. "There."

Mephiles frowned and looked the thing up and down. Besides being devoid of a creature inside of it, it looked just like the others.

"What makes this strange thing different from the others?," he finally asked, giving up on guessing.

John shook his head and straightened himself, taking a few steps back, unshed tears in his eyes. "This...this whole thing...the complex out of tubes, this...this machine..." He couldn't even turn around to it. "They are all...its heart.," he finally finished.

Mephiles looked between the machine and the containers, trying to understand this. "Human, I have no idea, how this should be possible.," he finally growled, frustrated. Ugh, he hated technology!

"My... _he_...makes a fluid..., mixes microscopic bots in it and fills up these containers with the mix. The nanobots use the organic fluid to create these hedgehogs here.

The robots are all connected with each other, working like a colony of ants or bees, to fulfill their tasks, including replicating themselves. Some of them stay in the creatures, like they did with this number 300."

John took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts. The next part wouldn't be explained as easily. He didn't notice, that Mephiles was already confused by the first part.

"As he is fighting now, he's using up energy. The nanobots can heal the loss of energy and the injuries, but they need energy themselves for that. Therefore, the nanobots remaining here change their task and turn the organic material into energy just for number 300's nanobots."

While Mephiles processed that – about half of his words were alien for him – John stared at his reflection in the empty glass container.

All of these creatures...they were nothing but pawns... _food_...for his father's toy. He didn't care about this. No, he could simply breed more fluid, once the witnesses and troublemakers had been taken care of, therefore he could sacrifice as much as needed. They were replaceable, at least according to him.

His eyes widened, when his mirror image suddenly changed into that of Jester Perringten. A wicked smirk was on his pale lips. "One day, you'll carry on my plans!," he hissed.

"NOO!" John balled a fist and hit the smirking face, effectively shattering the glass, the fluid rushing out and spilling over him. Panting, he pulled his fist back, not feeling the glass in his flesh.

And then he heard it. The laughter. His father's laughter. Coming from all sides, from all corners, getting louder and louder each second. "Stop! Stop it, please, please, just stop!," John begged, trying to block the noise, that seemed to echo in his skull, tearing and clawing at his brain endlessly.

Mephiles looked at the whimpering human, who was on his knees right now, clutching his head. Blood was running from his injured hand. The young man kept repeating for something to stop, but the only noise was the dripping from the destroyed container.

The dark being frowned and changed his sight again to look at the man's aura. In the next second he saw the problem already. Dark Chaos Energy, corrupted by the cruel deaths of the victims here.

If a creature, no matter if mobian, human or animal, died a painful and untimely death, the Chaos Energy rotted and lingered close to the place where its owner had died.

Usually, it just dissipated after a while, but if the victim's blood stayed at the same place it had been spilled to feed it and didn't get cleaned and if more murders continued to happen there, it just got more.

For him, this wasn't an issue, it was even an energy source, but other people got influenced by the dark energy and easily slipped into insanity. It was getting worse, the longer the people were in contact with the energy, until they committed suicide, spilling more blood in this place, an endless cycle.

In the past, Mephiles had created places like these, luring victims to them to enjoy their fights against their own minds, until they broke and strengthened the place's darkness with their deaths. He had been locked away for this, actually.

Although he would have loved to see this spectacle one more time for nostalgic reasons, he didn't have the time – and not very much motivation, seeing, that his Silver liked this human.

He sighed wistfully, before pulling the dark Chaos Energy to him, absorbing it easily and freeing the insane human in the process.

He closed his eyes for a moment to digest the energy, too much of it wasn't good for him, before opening them and meeting eyes with a confused John.

"Wh-what was this?," he stuttered, visibly pale and shaken. "That would take too far. Now, if I understand your explanation right, this whole floor is practically his heart?"

John nodded, still trying to wrap his head around the almost-insanity he had been through. "Well, putting it back in his chest is definitely not an option anymore. Too bad." He would have liked to crush its heart in its body, but oh well.

He let a dark ball of energy appear on his hand. "Human, leave this place. I'll take care of it.," he ordered. "Take care as in-? No!" At once, the young man was on his feet and in front of the glass containers, his arms outstretched.

"You can't! These creatures are innocent! If you kill them, then you'll...you'll kill all remains of the victims!," he cried. Didn't he get, that this was like murdering them for a second time!? That it would make their deaths even worse, because they wouldn't even fulfill a purpose anymore and would have died for absolutely nothing? Not, that their deaths had been for a good purpose or anything, but it was better than nothing, right?

In his distress, he didn't even realize, that Mephiles didn't look at him. His eyes had narrowed and he was looking at the funnel over the machine. He was sure, that he had heard two screams, not just one. And he was pretty sure, that the human would never be able to hear this second scream.

Ignoring the stuttering of the taller being, he glided over to the machine and rose easily up to the funnel. Without hesitation he plunged his claws through the thin metal and ripped a decent sized hole in it.

The noise let John jump and turn around to him. "W-what are you doing?," he asked confused, while Mephiles looked in the darkness of the metal contraption. "Hm...interesting." He reached in the hole and got out a little bundle of fur. John squinted, which got him a bad headache – was it just him, or did the bundle...move? "What is this?," he asked, slowly coming closer, his eyes never leaving the little thing.

Mephiles turned around to him, still standing in the air, and frowned. "Don't tell me I have to explain the birds and bees to you.," he replied.

John stopped a good meter away from him. "The what?," he asked in pure innocence, making the other's eyes go wide.

"The human's a more depressing case than I estimated.," Mephiles thought with a mental shake of his head, before he said out loud, "This is a baby, human, a hedgehog pup. One of the ukes had used his last moments to block the funnel and save it." And he had the feeling, that a part of his soul had been spared from insanity and had just waited for someone to find the baby.

"Er...should you hold it like that?," John asked, noticing, that Mephiles held the baby, as if it was a piece of trash. "It doesn't matter. If I found it or not, it is hardly alive anymore. I don't know, why I found it in the first place.," he shrugged. Well, he did know it, but the human's brain would probably explode, if he tried to explain it.

"So you're just...just what? Let it die? Kill it?," John asked, shaken with horror. Mephiles looked at him. "You want it, human? Here." And he let the baby fall.

John gasped and quickly caught it with his uninjured hand, thanking his curiosity for coming closer. It fit easily in his hand, its fur light pink. It was only skin and bones, it was cold and barely responsive, it really looked, as if it wouldn't survive this day. Still, if he could save just one life here...he wouldn't be like his father.

"Thank you, Mephiles.," he thanked the dark creature in earnest. "Whatever. Go now, human. I will destroy this place for good." "But..." John looked over to the containers.

"It's okay." Mephiles landed next to him, but was only showing him his profile. "Destroying the place where they died will give them their peace.," he explained.

John looked down on the baby in his hands. "The uke, who saved it...did he miss his left ear?," he asked. "Why do you ask, if you know the answer to this already?," Mephiles asked back and snapped his fingers.

John blinked. He was suddenly standing in front of the exit. "Last warning, human." Mephiles hadn't moved from the spot, which made him look even more threatening.

The human swallowed and nodded, before he turned around and left the hall. Mephiles waited, until he was gone, before he shuddered. He was saving lives and souls, all in one day! He even reassured the human! Chaos, that felt awful. Good, that he could murder now, he needed it.

He turned his head to the white figure, who had watched him for a while now. "Stop grinning and get to heaven, or wherever you souls go to.," he hissed. The uke smiled a little wider, performed a polite bow and disappeared.

"I will never get used to being good.," he sighed, before straightening himself. The white of his eyes turned dark red and white crystalline structures started to appear on his quills. Dark crystals replaced his claws. "Time to end this madness."

Seconds later, the whole island shook with unbelievably force.

* * *

Shadow jumped, when he felt the shaking vibrating through the air. A second later he smirked. Mephiles did it. And as the hedgehogs, humans and others were already on Angel Island, they didn't have to hold back any longer to protect them. He turned to Blush. "Ready to step it up?," he asked.

The butterfly grinned and pulled out a simple handle, that produced a long sharp blade after a sharp flick of her wrist. "And I thought you would never ask!," she laughed and charged at number 300.

The hedgehog, who seemed disturbed by this quake for some reason, tried to evade the weapon, but forgot, that the butterfly had more than one.

In the next moment, he already had three needles in his chest, all boring in his most important veins. He choked, feeling real pain for the first time in his existence.

The short distraction was all Shadow needed. Powerful Chaos Spears in its back threw the creature in the bloody sand under them. The cracks accompanying the landing told them, that he had broken several bones.

Mighty slowly came closer to the motionless hedgehog, watching it intently, in case it would jump up and attack.

It didn't, although it slowly pushed itself up, each movement seemed to hurt it immensely. Its right leg and left arm stood out in odd angles.

Despite its injuries, it managed to force itself on its feet, holding its chest with its right arm. It couldn't bend it properly because of the needles stuck in it. Blood came out of its mouth, it had some inner injuries, it seemed.

However, neither the broken bones, nor the other wounds healed, they didn't even begin the regeneration process. Whatever its heart had been, it had been destroyed, taking away its healing ability.

Shadow and Blush landed next to Mighty. "It's over, you failed.," Shadow growled. The artificial hedgehog just growled back, obviously not ready to give up – or simply not understanding, that he had no chance anymore.

The creature stumbled forwards a bit on his damaged legs, which would have been threatening, if it wouldn't have looked so pitiful, therefore, nobody made a move to back off.

"That's just pathetic. Okay, who wants to end this? I volunteer, and won't ask for a pay.," Blush asked, feeling quite bored, now, that the challenge was gone.

Before anyone could answer, however, some kind of light beam suddenly shot straight through number 300's body, giving the experienced fighters almost no time to dodge. The beam got blocked by some kind of invisible shield around Angel Island and redirected straight in the sky, before the light beam faded.

Number 300 had a giant hole in his chest, almost taking over his complete torso. Blood streamed out of the wound and out of his mouth. His eyes were wide open in silent shock and in the next second, he already collapsed face first in the sand. Over his body, the three remaining people looked at the entrance, from that had come the attack, to see Mephiles standing there.

He was in his more powerful form, that Shadow had seen only twice, when Mephiles had had to fight against him, Rouge and Omega, but he changed it, while they watched. He noticed the stares varying from shock to surprise and raised a brow.

"What? I was feeling like doing something generous by ending its suffering. Besides, why should I leave all the fun to you, after doing all the work?," he added with a smirk. "Sure, _all_ the work.," Blush grumbled, crossing her arms.

"You found its heart then?," Shadow asked. "Yeah. I had help." Then, Mephiles remembered something. "Did John come out already?," he asked Shadow. "John? No, wh-"

A chorus of groans and pained screams, that suddenly came from the island behind the trio and the building behind the demonic hedgehog, interrupted him.

"What the heck!?" Mighty and Blush swiftly turned around to run to the island, the shield, that had blocked Mephiles' attack, letting them pass without a problem, while Mephiles and Shadow exchanged a glare.

"It isn't over, is it?," Shadow deadpanned. "It would appear so.," Mephiles shrugged, before they split. Shadow warped to Angel Island to check on Sonic, who hopefully wasn't one of those in audible pain, while Mephiles, who was very sure, that his Silver was fine, went back in the building to look for John. This human was very troublesome.

No one of the two hedgehogs noticed, how the hole in number 300's chest started to close slowly...

* * *

Just a few minutes ago:

The four letters blinked in an angry red on the screen, as if they tried to hammer the message in his brain.

D-E-A-D. Number 300 was dead. All vitals to zero, no more signals of the nanobots. It was nothing but a piece of flesh now.

The blinking illuminated his figure, sitting in his chair with his head bent down, a shadow cast over his face, his thinned lips barely sticking out.

His glasses were in an angle, that let the glass appear white, hiding his eyes, which gave him a rather scary look. This was even more strengthened by the grin, that suddenly appeared on his face, followed by a chuckle, that soon became an insane laughter. "You think you won, you little vermin? Wrong! I never wanted to go to these extremes, but oh well. Sacrifices are meant to be made, right?," he said to himself.

Still chuckling, Jester Perringten pressed a big black button in front of him, on that had been printed a white 'Z' and watched, how the four red letters changed to new words, appearing and disappearing rapidly on the screen, until there were finally only eight green letters and three points behind the last one and the display stopped blinking finally.

He had bent over the screen the whole time, his glasses mirroring the new words perfectly over his wicked smirk:

Alternate Energy Source

Detected and Accessed

Switch to Alternate Energy Source

Complete

Charging...

* * *

Aaaand done. Everyone ready for the finale? It will come sometime next year, I'll start writing on it today of course. As I have to work, too, it may take a while, but just stay patient. I won't let you wait any longer than I have to (which is why I didn't upload this chapter here on the 2nd of January, when I would have returned home, but today already).

Anyway, I wish you a good start in the new year and lots of health and fun in 2019! And have a nice weekend, of course. :)


	19. How to end a nightmare

Hello, I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, January was filled with writer's block and editing this chapter was really taking long. I needed several days for certain parts, with that I just wasn't happy (to picture it for you: the original chapter was 31 pages long in my text document, the finished version you will read has 36 pages). Now I'm content and hope you enjoy, too.

* * *

 **19: How to end a nightmare**

Sonic woke up to sounds of pain close to him. Sounds like these always told his instincts and inner hero, that he needed to wake up and do something, that's why he opened his eyes and sat up immediately, looking around.

He had lain next to the Master Emerald in its temple. Knuckles stood in front of the giant gem stone with his hands raised and held out towards it. He had his eyes closed and was murmuring under his breath, seemingly without a single break between the words to breathe. The hero knew better than interrupting him, especially since he remembered, what exactly he did there. He needed his concentration for the shield he built up.

Much slower than he was used to, Sonic stood up, feeling stiff from lying on the stone, and looked around for the origin of the noise, that had woken him ears twitched towards the foot of the temple, from that came another small noise of pain, and he raced over and down the stairs – to stop shortly.

Kylie was kneeling in the grass in front of him, hunched over with both hands on her chest, wheezing and trying to breathe between small pained whimpers. Sweat rolled down her paler than usual face, her cheeks were far too red and small tears were in the corners of her eyes.

Somewhere behind the trees and bushes surrounding the temple, he could hear more whimpers, but also groans and muffled screams of pain. What was going on?

Tails and Bokkun stood next to the woman, looking helpless. Their distance made sense to Sonic in the next second, when Kylie suddenly twitched, just for a few seconds, and then hunched over again. She had probably flailed her limbs before, that's why they had backed off.

"Sonic!" Tails finally noticed him and looked at his brother with helpless relief. "What happened to her?," Sonic asked, going closer to him while making a bow around Kylie.

"I don't know! We were on our way here to look for you, and suddenly she said, that her heart would hurt and then she collapsed. I already asked the things I know about this, but she had no problem with it before and there's nothing known in her family!," the fox replied with a wavering voice. Tails was clearly at a loss of what could be wrong with her. He knew the basic things about medicine – and this was definitely above that.

They jumped, when Mighty came suddenly rushing out of a few bushes. Ignoring – or not noticing – the small group in front of the temple, he ran up the stairs to Knuckles. "Knux!," he shouted at him, shattering the other's concentration.

The echidna whipped around. "WHAT!?," he barked. "This spell you are performing, are there any side effects?," Mighty asked seriously.

"Side effects? This is magic, not medicine, there are no side effects!," the guardian raged, angry for getting interrupted just for this stupid question.

"Are you sure? A whole lot of humans is currently writhing in pain here!," Mighty told him. Sonic frowned. So it wasn't just Kylie...

"W-what?!" Knuckles looked down and at the woman, who he noticed only now. "But that's not my doing, even if there was this side effect, they were all already on Angel Island, it would only affect them, if they had stepped on it, after I had completed the spell!," he defended himself, worry now creeping in his voice.

"We have a problem.," Blush landed next to the small group around Kylie, her glare just brushing for a second over the woman, before turning to Mighty, who looked at her anxiously. "One of the humans just took his last breath.," she reported. The eyes of everyone widened and flickered to the groaning Kylie.

"Did you-?," Mighty started. "No, I didn't help. Should I with the others?," Blush replied with a smirk. "Stop joking, it's hardly the time.," the armadillo told her. The girl truly had a strange sense of humor.

"True. By the way, I wasn't done with the bad news. Some of the hedgehogs show the same symptoms.," the girl replied.

Tails gasped silently, while the others practically froze. Sonic felt nervous glares on him even without seeing them.

"Th-these...hedgehogs..." Kylie's weak voice let everyone turn to her. She was even paler, looked tired and was shaking, but straightened herself nonetheless. "A-are you feeling a little better?," Tails asked carefully. She still seemed to be in a bad condition.

"I still feel, as if I ran a few marathons just now, but the pain has lessened. I don't know, if it comes back, so let's make it quick. Blush, how did those hedgehogs look like?," the woman asked.

"Er...like hedgehogs?," the girl replied with a raised brow, not getting, what she wanted to know. "Were there pregnant ones among them?," Kylie rephrased the question.

"Hm..." Blush's eyes narrowed, while she remembered. "I didn't see anyone with even the slightest bump. Not even around them.," she finally explained.

"Good, that means, that these are semes." "What's good about that?," Tails wondered. "Semes are tougher, they can stand...this...longer. We have a little time." Bokkun and Sonic both helped her, when they noticed, that the woman tried to stand up.

"Maybe you shouldn't move...," Tails reluctantly suggested, while Kylie somehow managed to bring herself on her feet, but with her knees trembling worryingly.

"There are people dying because of something none of us knows. I need to find out what's wrong, before there are more victims.," Kylie replied, panting slightly from the strain of keeping herself upright.

"And...what's your plan?," Tails asked, not really able to imagine, how she wanted to find something out in her current condition.

Before the woman could answer, a flash of light appeared next to them and suddenly, there stood Shadow between them.

"Sonic, finally, are y-?" The question was forgotten, when Shadow was met with an icy glare, that let him feel, as if being at the other end of the universe was still too close to his uke right now.

Sonic just stared at him with this hateful glare, not saying anything, which was probably the worst part.

A hand on the blue one's shoulder let him break the eye contact and turn to Kylie, who had interrupted the staring match. "Remember, what I said about not having so much time?," she reminded him, her voice tired and weak.

"Right. What's your plan?," Sonic asked, turning to her and his back to Shadow, who was pretty convinced, that he would later get chewed through for his action before.

"In the building are lots of labs, if I can get into one and examine myself, I might find out something.," Kylie told him.

"I found the best one, on the eighth floor!," Tails told them, having used John's laptop, that he had always kept with him.

Kylie sighed. "I know, I will regret that, but...Sonic, can you run me there?," she asked, not keen on adding nausea to her symptoms, but what other option did she have?

The hero grinned, far more enthusiastic than her – and thankful for the distraction. He couldn't afford a private battle with Shadow just now, but if she hadn't stopped him... "I'll join you!," Tails quickly said. "Me, too!," Bokkun squeaked.

A violent shake, that was suddenly going through their very bones, let them jump. "Something's attacking the barrier!," Knuckles growled and quickly went back to his place in front of the Master Emerald, murmuring again to stabilize the spell.

"But how's that possible? There was no one else and this number 300's dead, I saw it!," Shadow said confused.

Sonic still didn't look at him and took Kylie on his arms, allowing Tails to hold onto his back. Bokkun readied himself to follow him.

"Let's look for it on the way. Hold on tight!," Sonic shouted and he ran off, although not even remotely as fast as he was used to. Even though he had been close to the Master Emerald, which was always refreshing for his energy levels, he didn't feel much better than before he fainted. It was a harsh blow to his ego, that the others could keep up with him without much trouble.

They reached the edge of Angel Island and saw Scythe fighting a very much alive number 300, who was almost glowing with energy. While they watched, the few needles and daggers Blush had thrown in his body and were still there, unlike the rest, melted because of the energy's heat.

"So that's how the lunatic got rid of my needles.," Blush thought, making a mental note to find a way around it, in case she had a target with the same ability somewhere in the future.

"Hey." Scythe landed next to them, her last hit having thrown her and her opponent apart. "Care to explain, why you were just leaving this thing alone, before it was dead?," she asked annoyed.

"That's the thing – it WAS dead. It...somehow got back to life.," Mighty explained. Scythe blocked the next attack directed to her with her scythe, while looking at her friend incredulously. "That's too complicated for me. I'll just kill the thing and be done with it.," she shrugged in the next second and went to attack, slicing the artificial creature through.

The two halves, Sonic had in the last second managed to cover Tails' eyes, so he was spared from the sight, didn't even fall, they stayed hovering in the air and then fused themselves simply together.

Slowly, the tall hedgehog girl turned around to the others. "Okay...this is definitely something new.," she said, her eyes wide. Her victims had done a lot after her final blows – but so far not fought further.

Mighty quickly blocked a couple of Chaos Spears directed at Scythe, who was momentarily stunned from surprise and shock. The blocked attack, however, let her snap back to reality and get ready for the fight again.

She – and Shadow, who wanted to end this once and for all – attacked and drove the creature back. Mighty joined them, while Sonic and Blush stayed in the background. Sonic, because he had a precious cargo and Blush...because something was wrong and she couldn't figure out, why.

This number 300 was suddenly moving differently. His fighting and moving patterns had changed completely, which was impossible to accomplish in this short amount of time. So how did he do this?

Sonic felt, too, that something was wrong, although he couldn't quite pinpoint, what exactly the reason for this feeling was. His instincts told him, what to do next either way. "Tails, stay back.," he told his brother.

Tails flinched a little at the unusually serious tone, before he carefully slipped down his brother's back and gave him a little space. Bokkun was copying his behavior, feeling scared of the hero again.

Sonic had never before asked his little buddy to stay back. If he didn't want him to participate in a fight, he either left him behind with his speed – he always slowed himself down on purpose when running with Tails (or others) accompanying him, so they could keep up without tiring themselves out too much – or brought him away from the battlefield himself, either literally or by giving him another task, that would keep him out of trouble, like before, when he had sent him with the girls. And if he had the feeling, that the situation could become dangerous later on, he warned him to be careful, which the fox did without a question.

That he now told him directly to stay away... He swallowed. That was definitely not an enemy like the others before – not even Chaos could compete!

"S-Sonic..." Kylie's weak voice let him snap out of his thoughts. She was obviously in pain again. "H-hurry.," she whimpered.

"Sure. Be careful, buddy, I'm back soon!" And he was gone, before Tails could answer. Just like always.

* * *

A few minutes earlier:

Mephiles looked at the closed elevator's doors and sighed. He knew enough about those things to try and press the button next to the doors to call the cabin, but his little destruction had obviously damaged some of the mechanisms, as nothing happened.

Growling annoyed, he let his claws appear and slit open his own chest to bleed. Turning into a puddle, he easily slipped through the tiny crack between the doors and dripped down the wall to the cabin, where he found another crack to slip through.

Before he had reconstructed himself, he already saw the human he had searched for, hunched over and groaning. He held the baby to his chest with one hand and had his other arm wrapped around his middle.

Mephiles took a quick glance through the small cabin, but couldn't find anything, that might have hurt him there and couldn't imagine a single scenario of how he could injure himself here, too. "Human, what did you do?," he finally asked.

John twitched and slowly turned around to him. "I-I don't know...," he whimpered, a few tears escaping his eyes, while he spoke. "Well, why are you in pain?," Mephiles rephrased, thinking, that he didn't understand his question. "D-don't kn-know...I-it just...just started... S-something's wrong..."

"No, really? Should I put you out of this misery? I would be quite busy, though, as you aren't the only one in this condition.," Mephiles mentioned, torn between helping (or trying to, as medicinal care wasn't exactly his forte, unless it were bleeding wounds) and just killing him.

"W-what...? Wh-who else?," John asked, straightening himself a little. "How am I supposed to know?," Mephiles asked annoyed.

Gritting his teeth, John straightened himself more. "M-Mephiles...y-you must help me...," he brought out between pants, before he noticed, that the pain suddenly lessened. He was still drained, but not hurting anymore...for now. He had the feeling, that the unbearable burning in his body would return soon, though.

He looked up and at Mephiles, who waited calmly for him to continue. "C-can you do this 'finger snapping and warping'-thing again?"

The mobian sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. If he didn't mean so much to Silver...

"Yes, human, I can. Why?," he just answered, highly annoyed. "I...I need to go quickly to floor eight. There's a laboratory, the best equipped, to be precise.," he explained.

"Not in pain anymore?," Mephiles asked with a raised brow, noticing the lack of pain in his voice.

"For now. Please.," John replied. "Whatever." Mephiles snapped his fingers and they disappeared.

* * *

A bit earlier:

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently. He had had to test three elevators, before he had finally found one, that still worked. As slow, as he was right now, it appeared, as if he had wasted at least an hour, even though it hadn't even been a full minute yet.

"Is it worse again?," he asked Kylie, who seemed to have trouble with breathing properly and was drenched in sweat by now.

"A-a little...," she answered with a shaky voice and a small smile, but Sonic could guess, that she played it down to not worry him more. She was in a great deal of pain and it was only a matter of time, until she would die like one of the humans already did.

The elevator stopped with a sudden jerk and the doors opened, but according to the display, they were a floor too low, just on the seventh. He hammered on the button with the number 8 on it, but nothing happened. Great. Could this thing not wait with breaking for another minute!?

He stepped out – and almost fell over the bent up pieces of floor, that were around a big hole in the ground.

"What the-!?" He backed away in surprise, before going closer to it again, looking down to see the hole going straight through the ceiling of the floor under him and also through its floor, reaching the fifth floor, where there seemed to be a lot of blood...

He crinkled his nose. This reeked, literally, of Fleetway. Just what did this lunatic do here? Didn't he have better things to do!?

He then got an idea, looked up and saw another hole above him, leading to the eighth floor. Chaos, he loved this genius!

He jumped over the hole, running down the hall to gain a momentum, stopping, to tell Kylie to make herself as small as possible, before turning around, racing with all his speed back and jumping at the exact right moment up, slipping through the hole with the curled up Kylie and landing safely a floor higher.

He made a mental note to thank Fleetway for his insanity, just when there was a flash of light and Mephiles and a crouched figure he identified as John appeared on the other side of the hole.

The two hedgehogs met eyes. "What are you doing here?," they asked at the same time. "Let's...let's go...," John managed to bring out and tried to stand up, but he would have collapsed again – or even fallen down the holes – if Mephiles hadn't called forth some black tentacles out of the shadows to stabilize him.

"Th-thanks...I guess...," John said and turned slowly to Sonic and Kylie, observing the situation fast. "Her, too...?," he mumbled, before turning back and making his way down the hallway. He needed to lean against the wall and each step he took was shaky and slow.

"Human, this way we'll be here until next year. Where is this laboratory?," Mephiles asked annoyed and Sonic realized, that they were here for the same reason. "Room...819.," John admitted reluctantly.

Both hedgehogs looked at the number on the door next to the hole, that said 801. "As I said." Mephiles raised his hand, his fingers ready to snap.

Sonic, who could guess, what he wanted to do, quickly hurried over, just when the other snapped his fingers and they disappeared, to appear a second later in a large laboratory, packed with all kinds of stuff, that would have let Tails squeal with joy.

John, who seemed in less pain again, slowly placed something on a nearby table and then went to another, long one, to grab a small glass plate and a needle. Clumsily – his hands were shaking badly – he pricked his finger, let a few drops of blood fall on the glass plate and then carried it over to a microscope in a corner, that was bigger than anything similar Sonic had ever seen in Tails' possession.

Kylie's movements let him turn back to her. She suddenly fought against his hold and he quickly let her down, so she wouldn't hurt herself.

Once down, the woman forced herself on her feet with the help of a nearby cabinet, before swaying over to the table John had been at first and now he actually looked at what exactly he had placed on there. A tiny creature, that could only be a baby hedgehog. It looked far too quiet and thin to be a healthy baby, though.

Kylie paused in front of it to catch her breath, before she carefully picked the tiny creature up. "Where did you find her?," she asked John, after carefully confirming the fragile pup's gender. "On a corpse.," was Mephiles' blunt – and absolutely true – answer, as the human man wasn't even listening.

"I see..." Kylie wasn't keen on asking further, guessing, that she didn't really want to know – unless she wanted some nightmares. "Can one of you help me? I don't think I can move very good right now.," she asked instead and looked at the two hedgehogs.

While Mephiles had a look of 'no way in hell, I helped enough for a lifetime', Sonic smiled at her.

Even though he would have loved to join the fight against number 300, he knew, that he was in no shape for this and unless he learned how to steal the Emeralds back from Shadow, he wouldn't be a help in the battle at all.

"Try to find something, that we can use as a blanket...and then look through the cabinets and cupboards, I need to know, what we have here.," Kylie instructed. "Alright, give me a sec."

* * *

"Er...ex...excuse me?" "Hm?," was the absentminded reply. "I...I don't want to... well... sound... ungrateful...or anything..."

With a sigh, Shy stopped. "Just get to the point already.," she grumbled. "W-well...shouldn't we have...gone with the rest?," Forest asked carefully.

"I told you to go with Scythe, but you were scared of her.," Shy reminded him. "Yes..." "Then don't complain, you had enough time and chances to leave.," the girl stated simply and carried on. "O-okay..."

Forest would never admit, that the thought of going with someone he didn't know scared him out of his mind. Okay, all he knew about Shy was, that she was Kylie's friend, but it was better, than total strangers. Still, he would rather be outside now, than going through the hallways of this torture building. As Shy had very poor orientation skills, too, they were pretty much walking in circles. In hell. Great.

If his legs would be of any use, he would be gone already with his young, but as it was now, he was completely depending on the girl and had to let her have her way.

Suddenly, Shy stopped again. "Alright, I know, that you are there, I can feel your auras. Come out already, I really need some help with orienting.," she said annoyed and turned around.

Forest, who had opened his eyes the second he had felt, that nobody was looking at him anymore, was surprised to see two mobians coming around the next corner, that was a few meters away from them.

One was a female bat with white fur, the other an uke with orange fur and yellow eyes. His chest was wrapped up with bandages and he seemed to be around fourteen, like he himself – it was hard to say, as he looked like a skeleton, like everyone who had been here for a longer time.

"Any special reason why you are here?," Shy asked the uke, who folded his ears back. "I... I just...," he stammered, unable to continue. "And you?," Rouge countered, when the stammering just repeated itself. "What is here, that you just can't leave it alone?"

The two girls stared at each other for a good minute with narrowed eyes, before Shy closed hers and sighed. "The guy, who lost his hand because of me and Scythe.," she finally answered.

The uke's eyes widened, while Rouge faintly remembered the human she meant. Forest just looked up at her, not knowing, who they were talking about.

"Maybe it's because I'm a mobian – but why?," the taken aback bat finally asked. "I have my reasons, end of discussion. Now, where is this elevator? Can you show me that?," Shy replied, leaving no room for arguments.

Rouge frowned in thought. She couldn't just leave the girl here, but she was for sure not easy to convince to leave – if at all. She figured, that she needed to do something important and once she was done, she would leave and then she could, too, without her conscience nagging again.

This alone had been the reason for her staying behind. She had coincidentally seen, how Shy had tried to give Forest to Scythe, but the frightened male had been simply against it and had clung to the human.

Scythe had then wished her 'Good luck with whatever you plan to do now' and left, obviously trusting the teen.

Well, Rouge had found out, that she didn't. She didn't feel well with leaving the girl behind and so she had followed her secretly – like this one uke, who seemed very scared still, but also determined to look out for the girl.

"Fine. But I hope, that you won't do something, that makes me regret this.," she sighed and waved the girl over, before turning around and walking out of the hallway the way she had stepped into it. Nobody commented on how the girl had been obviously completely on the wrong way.

"While we walk, mind telling me something?," Rouge broke the silence, that threatened to rule again.

"As long as it doesn't have to do with my past, my reasons for still being here or why my sisters don't look like me, sure." The girl shrugged uncaringly.

"It's about your powers. Can't you pinpoint the aura of your target?" "Usually, yes, I could, but I'm still pretty beat up from using my powers and I can't quite catch the aura I need to find. Here have been a lot of people lately and their auras are still lingering in the hallways. It's like looking for one special goldfish in a pond overflowing with goldfish, you see?," Shy replied, leaving out the part, that she was so tired from using her darkness powers. "I see...but if you were up to top health..." "...I could pinpoint the aura to the exact millimeter, tell you how he is and what he ate last." "Interesting." Shy smirked, she knew, that Rouge was more than just a little interested, she was pretty speechless.

"Then how did you know, that we were following you?," the orange furred uke asked shyly. "Oh, easy. You were very close to me. That's why I was wandering around here, to try and get close to him to feel his aura. No luck, but oh well. Are we there yet?" "Almost, it should be the elevator around the next corner."

"Finally!," Shy exclaimed, as if they had been wandering for hours – well, she did, more or less – and swiftly turned around the said corner. She walked straight to the elevator on her right and stopped shortly before it.

She gently lowered the little family in her arms down on the floor and straightened, not missing the worried glances she got from the hedgehog. "No worries, you are perfectly safe here. It won't take long, I just need both my hands.," she soothed, before positioning herself in front of the door.

To Rouge and the uke, who stayed close to Forest just in case, it appeared, as if she was preparing for battle.

The call button sparked, when she short circuited it and the doors moved open, but the cabin wasn't behind it. Shy frowned, stepped closer to the doors and stuck her head through the opening, feeling the aura she wanted above her.

"Great. Where's Mighty, when you need him?," she thought, before looking at the thick steel cables and letting her electric powers turn the metal into a strong magnet there, knowing, that it would pull the cabin down.

At first, the cabin moved slowly, but then it went quicker and Shy made sure to create a platform of stone under the level she stood on to catch it, before she retreated and watched the cabin stopping in front of her.

Inside, the picture greeting her wasn't, what she had expected. The men were on the floor, groaning in obvious pain. Stance was hunched over his stump, while most of the other men were hugging their middle or clawing at their hearts, besides one of them, who didn't have an aura anymore...

"W-what is wrong with you?," Shy managed to bring out, almost speechless in surprise. This wasn't her fault...was it?

Stance twitched upon hearing her voice and he raised his head, his look dark enough to kill. "YOU!" At once, he was on his feet and lunged at the completely surprised girl.

Forest gasped and quickly turned away to protect his young, while Rouge and the other uke were stunned in surprise.

"What did you do to me, you little bitch!?," the man screamed, his hand around the girl's neck, but he was too weak to really choke her, instead he rather shook her back and forth. "I know it was you! I know it! Stop it right now, or I will-!"

The few seconds of his rage were everything Shy had needed to recover. She grabbed his arm, ripped it and his hand away from her and threw him down the hallway, away from everyone.

She just wanted to question, what had gotten into him, when she felt a tingle on her skin, that shouldn't be there.

She looked on her arms and saw blood drops on them, Stance had probably spit them on her. She frowned, too distracted to be disgusted. Since when...was blood electric?

* * *

"Will she make it?," Sonic asked silently, while he looked down on Kylie. He stood on a table to better hold up the infusion he had found, so the fluid could drip in the baby girl in Kylie's arm. The baby was wrapped in a spare lab coat and had a needle in her tiny arm, fixated with tape.

"Well, I'm sadly not certain, children medicine isn't something I learned so far, you know? I could treat her easier, if she was a puppy... I think, it's a good sign, though, that she isn't as cold anymore and she moved a little a minute ago. She will definitely need medical attention, but she should be out of the worst.," the woman replied, checking the infusion again, that she had pretty much improvised out of a syringe's needle, tape and a tube. If Sonic hadn't found the infusion bag, she would have been forced to improvise that, too.

She and Sonic jumped, when they suddenly heard a loud crash behind them, whirling around.

John was breathing heavily, standing in front of a pile of things he had thrown off the table. "How dare he?" His rather soft words seemed to burn in the silence. "How dare this asshole do this!?," he growled a little louder, grabbing a spare glass plate and marching over to Kylie, who would have retreated, if she wouldn't have been connected with Sonic and the baby.

"I need your blood!," he snarled, it sounded like an order. "Uh...s-sure...just...how should I...?" John didn't let her finish, he grabbed her hand, that was thankfully not supporting the girl in her arm, dragged her to the surprised Sonic and almost rammed her hand in his lowest back quills, letting the hero and the woman gasp, before pulling her hand back, holding it over the glass plate, until a few drops of blood had fallen on it. Then, he swiftly returned to the microscope, the only thing left on the table, that he hadn't thrown down in his rage.

"That..." John could be proud, there wasn't much, that left Sonic speechless for so long. Until now, nobody had used his quills like a tool. Well, he himself did, but he could never imagine Tails saying something like, "Sonic, mind letting me use your quills?". Unless it was to slice through a robot, or something like that, doing tasks for him, but he would never attempt to use his quills the way John did just now...

"Ow..." He twitched out of his thoughts and looked down on Kylie, who held her hand outstretched to not drip blood on the baby. The wound was still bleeding and looked pretty deep.

Sonic growled, coming out of his shock, ready to give the human a piece of his mind so he would never use him – or a part of him – to hurt someone again, but, "Don't bother."

One of Mephiles' black tentacles, with that he had supported John before, wrapped suddenly around Kylie's injured hand, scaring her a bit, but before she could try to pull away, the tentacle already retreated, the wound gone.

The woman stared at her hand and moved it slowly to confirm, that it was completely fine, before she searched for Mephiles' glare. "Thank you." "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I have to repay my debt to you anyway, just see it as a part of this repaying.," he shrugged, waving his hand.

"Debt?," Kylie repeated. "What debt?" Mephiles turned, so that she saw his profile and he was facing Sonic, who looked at the seme confused. "You made Silver's stay here bearable, when I couldn't be with him. For that, you have my...eternal thanks.," he spoke.

Even though he looked at Sonic, it was obvious, that he was looking through him and talking to Kylie. The woman blushed at hearing that.

"As for you.," Mephiles continued, now meaning actually Sonic, "Leave the human to me. I think, I can handle him." Sonic thought it over, when another crash was audible. The microscope had joined the trash on the floor, still connected with the socket through an awfully stretched and half ripped off cord.

John wasn't done though, he kept throwing other things, that were reachable, through the room, until Mephiles used his tentacles to restrict his movement.

"Now, human, what is your problem?," the seme asked annoyed, as John was fighting against the grip. He seemed not aware of the fact, that it was tightening, the more he moved.

He really hated it, when his prey – even though John technically wasn't prey – didn't give up, after he caught it like that. It was so tiring.

"Human, I don't have endless patience. Spit it out already.," he growled, when John, even though he was immobile now, was still twitching to try and free himself.

Finally giving up the fruitless attempts, he whipped his head up to face Mephiles, who raised a brow upon seeing the many emotions at once in his eyes. Hurt, fear, rage, desperation, sadness, panic and hatred. _A lot_ of hatred.

"He dared...! Th-that's insane, that's totally insane!," he said, or better, that was all, that Mephiles could make out from the jumbled mess, that came flowing out of his mouth at once.

The seme sighed and changed his sight again – and actually took a step back: the aura of the young man was flaring with emotions, washing in giant waves over him. He shuddered, happy, that he didn't feel and saw this all the time.

He summoned some of the energy he had collected in the room with the cloned hedgehogs and let it loose, destroying the built-up aura, until it was almost back to normal, just a little stronger now, than it would be usually.

John had calmed down as intended, looking at the dark male in confusion. "W-what...?," he started, while the tentacles let go of him. The loss of the biggest part of his emotions all of a sudden was obviously confusing him. He fell to his knees, as his support, the tentacles, was gone now.

"That would take too far.," Mephiles answered, like before, when he had freed him from his insanity. "Now, what is your problem, human?," the seme repeated his earlier question, trying hard to not sound annoyed.

John looked down and balled his fists. "Remember about those nanobots? In the clones?," he whispered.

"That hasn't been an hour ago, human, don't underestimate my intelligence. Now, what about this?," Mephiles asked, barely hiding his impatience.

"They aren't gone yet. My father...he..." John's knuckles turned white. "H-he put...them in us.," he finished in a very soft whisper.

Mephiles' eyes widened. He had probably done every form of torture known to man- and mobiankind – but to use little artificial ants to destroy living beings slowly from the inside out... He didn't know, if he should be disgusted, impressed or ask the human for an autograph, before he killed him.

"It was probably the food, and the water. He had mixed them in it...whenever we ate...they got in us...in our bodies...and they stayed in our cells, until they got a signal...to destroy...," John continued, starting to tremble.

"What are you talking about?," Sonic asked. He hadn't heard much, but the words 'in us' and 'destroy' had been among those he had been able to make out – and they definitely didn't sound good this close to each other.

John just looked away, shame in his eyes, so Mephiles took over. "Apparently his father has created tiny ant-like things, that are called 'nanobots'. They are in this number 300, were in the clones he had created besides this thing, that I destroyed already, and are apparently in the humans here.," he started. Both, John and Kylie jerked, although the information was only new for the female.

"What's the purpose of this?," Sonic asked, not understanding the fatal part of this information, yet.

"These things turn cells into energy, dissolving the body and themselves in the process, to fuel number 300, so he can heal himself.," Mephiles continued.

"That's what is killing the humans and semes, I see..." Sonic had to remind himself, that he shouldn't let his anger get the best of him – especially not, if there was so little he could do against it.

He could fight robots, alright – but they had to be at least big enough to see them with the naked eye, otherwise he had a problem. Still, even though Kylie and John were the only ones he wholeheartedly didn't want in pain, he was racking his brain for a solution to end this.

"These things are in hedgehogs, too!?," Mephiles asked alarmed, of course thinking about Silver. "D-don't worry..." Kylie had turned pale and green at the same time and seemed close to throwing up, but also determined to not let the new information take over her thinking.

"The mentioned hedgehogs are just semes, I doubt, that he would do the same to ukes. The semes are...well...dispensable." She didn't want to tell them, that hedgehogs belonged to the few mobian species, that could mate with every other species and create offspring. As long as Perringten had the ukes, he could breed as much pups as he liked, even if he used other male mobians.

"Well, I'm fine.," Mephiles stated, not buying her explanation. "You are the mates of his most precious former prisoners. You were useful, that's why he didn't want to get rid of you.," Kylie explained patiently. The last thing they needed was an out of control seme, because his mate _could_ be in danger. "I see..." Mephiles felt the truth in her words and calmed down.

He turned back to John. "So? What's the plan?," he asked. The human blinked and looked up to stare in his eyes.

"P-plan?," he asked, as if he had never before heard this word. "Yes, human. Don't tell me, that you are simply giving up and wait for death."

"I-" John stopped and looked to the ground. Mephiles had guessed it, that was exactly what he wanted to do.

"Human, if you don't think about something NOW, I will show you, what the word 'pain' REALLY means!," Mephiles threatened. He should be honored, for crying out loud, that he actually offered his help! But no, he just threw the chance away!

John looked to the side. "Too late. I don't feel anything anymore.," he whispered, his fists balled again. "My own father wants me dead, how could it become any worse?"

Mephiles looked at him in silence and then sighed. He understood now, why he hated this idiot so much. He was like a mirror image to him.

He also knew the devotion to the father, that was there, no matter how much you denied it, and he also knew the pain of the ultimate, direct betrayal, the feeling of desperation and loneliness it brought, how the tiny rest of hope, that blood was thicker than water, was crushed finally, ripped into painful little pieces and littered in the heart to sting it time and time again.

Considering, that he was immortal, John actually had the worse parent, as his hadn't exactly have the possibility to kill him. He made it painful, true, but it didn't kill him.

"It becomes worse, if you give up now, human. Then, he'll win.," he stated finally. John's head whipped up. "Do you really want to give him this victory? Or do you want to destroy his master plan and let him watch his unworthy son becoming the superior over him?," he asked in a challenging voice.

The young man blinked at him. "I'm... superior?," he asked, his brain having trouble to process that.

"Maybe not superior, but better for sure. You'd be a hero.," Sonic told him, making him straighten, so he could look up at him. The blue hedgehog better slowed Mephiles down a bit, before he created another man with an ego as big as Eggman's.

"A hero? Like...you?," John stammered. "Sure. And as I can't do anything right now, you'd be even better than me.," Sonic grinned, knowing, that he was building up the confidence the human needed.

John blushed a little, before he stood up. "You're right, you two. I won't let him win." The smile and confidence on his face vanished quickly, though. "That doesn't mean, that I know a way to stop this. I can't hack each one of those, I would need to live a thousand years to succeed...," he sighed, about to crawl back in his shell again.

"Didn't you tell me, that those things are working together? Can't you use this fact for this... hacking?," Mephiles asked, not quite sure, if he was saying something useful. He had not the slightest idea, what the heck 'hacking' meant.

John frowned in thought for a minute and then, his eyes lit up like the sun. "That's it!" Without warning, he lunged at Mephiles, hugging him tightly. "Thank you! I could so kiss you right now!," he cheered, let him fall, without doing anything else, thankfully, and then ran to a computer, that had survived his rage, starting to type.

Sonic looked from him to Mephiles, who was stiff as a board and whose left eyelid was twitching. Silver was most likely the only one, who was allowed to touch him and John had accidentally crossed a boundary. "Er...maybe you should...," the hero started.

The seme whipped around to him, his pupils seemingly thinner than usual. "...kill someone!? Good idea!," he hissed and was gone in a flash. Sonic frowned. Hopefully, he could keep himself in check.

"Strange...," John mumbled suddenly, drawing attention to him. "A whole lot of those nanobots suddenly stopped functioning...wonder why...?"

* * *

"Better?," Shy asked the surprised humans, who suddenly weren't in pain anymore. "H-how...?," one of them asked.

"Don't know. You had something electric in your blood, I just short-circuited it.," she shrugged. It had weakened her a lot, but she wouldn't let that show.

Before someone could say something, there was a flash of light and another hedgehog stood in the hallway, looking absolutely mad and ready to kill. "Tell me, that I can kill one of the humans.," he growled to no one in particular. Forest shivered and curled up more, even though he wasn't a human.

Shy just looked in his wild eyes, before she pointed to the body, that was still in the elevator. "You can have this one and tear him apart, but please not here. There are minors, you know?," she told him in a neutral voice.

"Fair enough.," the male replied, disappeared the way he had come, appeared next to the body, grabbed it and vanished again.

"What...the hell...?," Rouge asked finally. She had of course recognized the villain and pretty much kissed her life goodbye, but he had been strangely not as bloodthirsty as she was used to – otherwise, they would be all dead by now.

"I recognized the look in his eyes, Scythe has it sometimes, too. He needed to spill some blood or to destroy something. I guess it's better than destroying the building, wouldn't you agree?," Shy explained. The bat just nodded. "Alright, now, that this is settled, we will all leave this place, got it?," Shy ordered.

What she had tried to find out was done, her darkness had left the one-handed man completely, she was sure of this. Nobody knew this, but her darkness was...rather clingy and loved to settle itself in the dark spots of people's souls. Usually, that wasn't such a problem, however, if the person was evil or felt very strong negative emotions over a rather long time, it could grow. She had once witnessed the consequences of that and was not keen on repeating this experience, ever. But the human was fine, otherwise, she would feel a greater, more familiar darkness in him.

She would have checked earlier, but Scythe had thrown him in the elevator and locked in it, before she had recovered enough to do this. With everyone leaving, she had taken the chance to look for him, even though she had to carry the small family with her.

"As if I would listen to a brat!," Stance hissed, towering over the girl menacingly, who returned the glare relaxed, even though she had to raise her head and lay it in her neck to meet him eye to eye. "Oh, do you _want_ to be in pain again? Or even more?," she asked coolly.

Stance's eyes widened and he backed off, he and the other men deathly pale. "Y-you wouldn't..." "I ended the pain, I can start it again and decide about the intensity. Do you want that?," she asked with a smirk, looking now at all men.

Simultaneous panicked head shakes answered her. "Good. Then you will listen to me. And if one of you tries to flee, I'll call the hedgehog from before back. I'm sure he'll love living prey." Needless to say, that all men were now as obedient as well-trained dogs.

Shy was thankful for Blush's lessons in psychological threats. Back then, she had thought it was useless, that real threats were better, but now, she saw, what she had meant. She was exhausted to the point, where she was unable to do more than walking back to Angel Island. And even that seemed too much to ask. She wouldn't be able to create the smallest fire or anything, until she had passed out for about three days to recover. Besides, she had no idea, how to call back the hedgehog and even if she would be feeling better, she couldn't activate the short-circuited things in their bloods again. To make it short, she was helpless and weak right now.

Her verbal threats and her confident appearance were enough, though, to keep the men perfectly in line, and she made a mental note to thank Blush for her efforts of training them.

"Now, that this is settled – how about we leave this place?," Rouge interrupted the silence. "Good idea. You take the hedgehog.," Shy replied, pointing to Forest, who flinched. "Why?," the bat asked.

"I need my hands for them.," Shy replied and jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the trembling men. A complete lie. She just needed a thought for any of her actions, but none of those around her right now knew that. Her friends would have seen through that lie easily. The reason for directing the task further was simple, she was too weak to carry the little family herself. She was too afraid to let them fall and would never forgive herself, if the pups got hurt because of her.

"Alright.," Rouge gave in and while she tried to explain to the afraid uke, that she meant no harm, Shy used her psychological power over the men to shepherd them out of the hallway. The orange furred uke followed after her, and Rouge soon, too, carrying the feather light family with her.

At the end of the hallway, the men turned to the right and Shy looked over her shoulder at Rouge to confirm, that that was the right way. The bat just rolled her eyes and nodded silently to do just that. Shy smirked and turned back. She loved it, when things went her way.

* * *

Blush growled in annoyance, while she watched the fight between this number 300, the golden hedgehog and her friends.

His movements were still completely different to the pattern she had memorized. His decisions weren't as careless anymore and his strategies became more advanced, yet more brutal. How did this fit?

Did he get instructions? No, that wasn't it, it would slow his reactions down a tad, but he never missed a beat. So how? How? How was this possible?

She frowned, when she remembered a little incident a few years ago. Emma and the other kids had played like usual and somehow ended up on a tree. For Ray, this hadn't been a problem, but Kari and Emma had been in trouble. Especially Emma had been terrified, nobody had known until then, that she was afraid of heights. Of course, Blush had used her ability to fly to get up to them, but twigs and branches had made it difficult for her large wings. In the end, she had been forced to stay about two meters under them to not crash down and told them to jump in her arms. Kari had done this, but Emma had been too scared. To get the not too light human girl out of her arms, Blush had descended to save Emma afterwards, but it had never come this far. She had been only one meter away from the ground, when the mouse had screamed. She had slipped off the branch with nobody close enough to catch her. But...it hadn't been necessary. Emma, who had never before trained an inch of her little body, had suddenly performed stunts no one had expected from her, swinging from branch to branch downwards, until she had landed unharmed on the ground. Each movement had been perfectly timed – and that with Emma having her eyes screwed shut the whole way down.

It had taken some time, interrogation and speculations, but finally, they had been able to solve this riddle: Shy had taken control over her sister's body by using her electricity to agitate the necessary muscles with small electric impulses in the exact right moment. It had been something she hadn't been able to repeat ever since. Oddly enough, Emma hadn't been scared of what she had understood from the explanation. She had simply beamed, "Cool, I've been your doll!".

A doll...yes, that was it! This thing got controlled somehow, like a marionette, moving according to the strings attached to it. Without a single pause between the movement of the player and the marionette, everything went synchronous...

She focused back on the fight, now, that the riddle was solved, and immediately, her assassin-senses rang, telling her, that something was wrong. Her feelers twitched, sensing the energy flow.

Number 300 was firing Chaos Spears at Mighty and Scythe, that they dodged, so that the energy just hit the ground around them, while the artificial creature itself had to dodge Shadow's own Chaos Spears.

While she watched, number 300 suddenly stopped the attacking, dodged another bunch of Chaos Spears from Shadow and then focused on Mighty and Scythe, who stared back to prepare for the next attack, not knowing, that it wouldn't come directly from the enemy.

Blush's feelers twitched again, feeling the danger, how it surrounded her clueless friends. Even though her trained mind screamed against it, she was suddenly running, breaking through the barrier of the echidna. "MOVE!," she screamed and jumped against her surprised friends, shoving them away from the Chaos Energy-spears shooting out of the ground just in time.

Mighty and Scythe quickly recovered and turned around to see the energy returning to number 300, leaving a motionless Blush in a puddle of her own blood on the sand.

"Blush!" Mighty was quick to rush to her and to bring them back behind Knuckles' barrier, while Scythe slowly stood up, a shadow over her face.

She stretched out her arm and let her scythe fall in the sand, the weight of the weapon causing a quake and a cloud of dust, when it landed.

"What are you doing!? Don't just stand there!," Shadow shouted at her, while chasing after number 300, who took the opening of her obvious surrender to race through the air towards her for the final blow.

His ears twitched and his eyes narrowed upon hearing her soft voice over the wind and the waves around them, "I'll tell you a secret, you asshole."

She whipped her head up, when his fist was only centimeters away from her chest and caught it, the sand getting blown away from the force behind the punch, that she had stopped with one hand.

Number 300 looked in her eyes, that had now a red color and only slits as pupils. "When I throw away my scythe, then I'm not playing anymore. And now," she hit him hard in the face with her other fist, throwing him in the sea. "Who do you think you are to spill my friend's blood!?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Mighty had placed Blush carefully on the ground, close to a worried Tails and a whimpering Bokkun, and was searching for the wounds, trying to determine the extent of the injuries. He found three holes in her right wing, one wound in her left leg and one in her right shoulder.

"Blush...I...what was that?," he asked, unable to think about something else right now. He had never thought, that the distanced Blush would save his life one day...at least not like that. She had always lectured them about how a healthy body was the capital of an assassin. That she had risked this capital...for them...not knowing, if one of the wounds was permanent...

"A...A trap.," Blush gasped out, breaking through his thoughts, pain in her voice. "He aimed on the ground on purpose, to call the energy back, when it had built up enough. It's like using my needles with invisible threads at them, to pull them back in the right moment. I do this sometimes, that's how I know.," she continued.

She took a deep breath and grabbed Mighty's arm, so he would listen to her and not run off – she could see, that he wanted to, to avenge her. "Listen, this hedgehog's not normal. Someone is controlling him. Like Shy did with Emma, remember?," she whispered. "More or less... So this thing's just a puppet?"

"A puppet!?" A loud voice suddenly screeched and they whipped around to see Eggman, looking worse than before, getting carried by the back of his shirt by a hovering Fleetway. Bocoe and Decoe followed after them.

"Let me go already, you imbecile!," Eggman shouted up at the hedgehog, who just frowned and let him fall – on his very unfortunate robots. Eggman cursed something under his breath about hating hedgehogs and fumbled to try and stand up, as nobody seemed in the mood to help him.

Then, Fleetway noticed Blush. "Sweet cheeks!" He was at her other side in seconds. "Don't call me that. What are you doing here?," the girl asked, somehow still having enough energy to sound annoyed, but also weak.

"I heard something about the humans being sick, so I brought this one away from Scourge.," the male replied, shrugging.

"Finally!," Eggman huffed, straightening again and dusting himself off. "I'll never like hedgehogs.," he grumbled, before marching over to Blush and sneering down on her, ignoring Mighty's and Fleetway's warning growls.

"Now, what are you saying about puppets?," he practically ordered. "This number 300 acts like a marionette on strings, it's controlled somehow.," Blush replied, her hand closed tightly around one of her needles. She didn't trust this man one bit, especially now, while she was injured.

Eggman frowned for a few seconds, obviously deep in thought, before he turned to the direction of the building.

"You'll hear of my lawyer, you thief!," he suddenly screamed, waving his fist, as if trying to threaten the man, who couldn't even see him from there.

He obviously didn't know, that screaming next to a mobian, who felt threatened, was a bad idea. Mighty had to hold both, Blush and Fleetway, back, so they wouldn't attack him, which wasn't so easy, as they were both pretty determined.

"What are you meaning by that?," Tails asked, distracting the man from the small tussle of the mobians behind him. "This Perringten stole one of my brain chips!," the man raged. "Brain chips?," Tails questioned, while Mighty pried Fleetway away from the human. The hedgehog had intended, judging by the position of his hands, to strangle the mad doctor from behind. Just a moment later, the armadillo needed to catch a bundle of needles thrown by Blush in the genius' direction.

"Yes, the brain chips I invented to control the semes I've sent after Sonic. What do you think, why they were so charming?," Eggman bragged.

"Uhuh, yeah. Charming. Right.," Tails replied dully, trying not to think about the one, who pushed him on the street.

Eggman scowled at his tone and marched over to him to hover over him menacingly. "I AM charming, you twerp!," he snapped. "Yeah, of course you are.," Tails replied in the same unbelieving tone Sonic would use.

"Anyway, how are those things getting the signal?," he changed the subject. "My mosquito-bots had tiny antennas on them, that were transporting my signal to the chips. Of course they were working flawlessly, which wasn't exactly easy, but it isn't, as if a genius like me can't find a way around any problem!" Back to bragging. And he thankfully didn't see Fleetway throwing a decent sized rock at his head, that Mighty caught in the last moment.

"That means, Perringten has probably also such an antenna..." Tails ignored the other's continuing self-praise and looked up and at what of the building he could see through the branches and leaves.

On the roof was for sure this antenna and if he managed to get up there, he could try to hack it (his inventor-heart just couldn't bring him to bluntly destroy it, besides, nobody could foresee, how this would affect the chip) to stop it from giving out signals or maybe to change the frequency... He would think about it, after he had had a look at the antenna from up close.

And he knew just the way to get there, too. "Mighty, I need your help to get to the roof!," he called, waved and ran out of the barrier.

"Be right behind you!," Mighty – who had managed to get rid of Fleetway by stabbing his head quills in a nearby tree, causing him to look like a living, very disturbing tree branch, thanks to his ability to hover –, called after him, but stayed with Blush long enough to see her close her eyes and to wrap her wings tightly around herself, until she looked like a giant cocoon. The usually shining scales dulled, while they changed their texture to something much harder, that only someone with his strength could break.

"W-what happened to her?," Fleetway stuttered, trying unsuccessfully to turn his head to look at her properly.

"She protects herself this way. Just leave her alone, she's fine in there, recovering. Anyway, I gotta go." And the strong armadillo ran after the fox, ignoring the curses and shouts he got from leaving the hedgehog in this very strange position.

Mighty noticed during his run, that a well known evil genius and his three robots were suddenly missing, but shrugged it off. He could care about this later. As he saw in the next seconds, he didn't need to remember this task. Eggman was in the process of squeezing himself in the small backseat of Tails' plane, with the fox protesting in the front.

The Tornado had been spared of the destruction number 300 had caused earlier, probably, because nobody had been in it to this time.

The fight between the artificial hedgehog and the others was thankfully away from them, so they didn't have to worry about that.

The back seat was too small for the human genius, but he seemed determined to go to the roof, too, to get Perringten back somehow.

"I tell you, you don't fit in there!," Tails tried to argue, while the man squeezed himself even deeper in the seat, his legs bent and pressed to him on both of his sides, making him look, as if he was currently sitting on a nest with eggs. Decoe and Bocoe had crawled on the wings, while Bokkun sat proudly on the tip. "As if I would miss out on my revenge!," the man snarled, just when Mighty came to a stop next to the plane.

Tails gave up with a sigh and turned to his friend. "Can you help me getting up?," he asked, pointing to the roof. Mighty smirked, because he understood perfectly, what the young genius had in mind. "Sure."

"What are you waiting for!? Start this measly plane already!," Eggman raged, who started to lose the feeling in his legs.

"Here's not exactly a good place for a flight start.," Tails replied, when the plane suddenly started to hover in a way, that was impossible for it.

"Huh!?," the doctor asked, bent to the side, to look under the plane and his eyes widened, when he saw the super strong armadillo, balancing the plane on his hands.

Realizing his intention, the human fought to free himself out of the seat, but he was pretty much stuck.

"A little to the left, Mighty, and bring the nose up!," Tails instructed and with a grunt, Mighty brought the plane in the desired position. It wasn't like the plane was heavy for him, even though the less than light human and his robots were definitely a very big addition, it was rather, that the large machine wasn't easy to get balanced and he struggled to get a good grip on it without digging his fingers in the metal (which would most likely damage something important), so it wouldn't fall and possibly hurt his young friend.

"A little higher!," Tails continued to instruct, calculating the best way to start and how he needed to fly without colliding with the outer shield of the building.

"W-w-w-w-wait! Wait, I changed my mind! I did! Let me out!," Eggman screamed and tried in vain to push himself out, but the mobians ignored him, while they did the last adjustments.

"Alright, we're set!," Tails finally declared. "We're NOT!," Eggman hissed and broke free at last, but when he swung one of his legs over the edge of the seat, he felt the whole plane moving back. "W-!"

"GO!," the fox shouted and Mighty threw the plane straight in the right direction, as if it was the biggest paper plane ever.

It would have been a totally silent start, if it hadn't been for Eggman's drawn scream of "NOOOOOOOOO!".

* * *

"Come on, come on!," John growled, while quite literally slamming on the keys, trying to find a way into these little pests' systems. He could hack one at a time, but that wasn't enough. There HAD to be a way to destroy them all at once!

The by now relatively frequent pain, that he and Kylie felt, wasn't exactly helpful either. He had the feeling to race against time and to lose, too.

He flinched, when something popped up on the bottom of the monitor and his eyes widened upon the blinking word 'Alert!'. Did he do something wrong? Well, the computer worked still, so what was this about?

As the pop-up didn't disappear and kept blinking, which was highly annoying, he finally clicked on it and another window popped up, showing what seemed to be a live stream from a camera on the flat roof of this building.

It showed the roof on the lower half of the screen and the ocean and horizon on the top half, but nothing interesting, that would be worth the alert, that was probably shown on every computer and laptop on the Island, as this was an important security breach.

Before he could close the window and anger himself over the useless distraction, he heard voices, coming from somewhere off the screen.

"Give that back!" "Make me, foxboy!" "Sir, don't you think-?" "I'm the boss here, so don't tell me what to do, got it?," the second voice snapped at the third, that had been creaking slightly.

Sonic's ears perked at the voices. "Tails? Eggman?," he asked, stepping closer to John, but not enough to stop the infusion from working.

It became silent on the other end and then, suddenly, a movement was on the screen and a giant green eye was staring at them. "Sonic? Is that you? Is Kylie there?," Bokkun asked, obviously, there wasn't a way for him to see them.

"Go away from that, you imbecile!," Eggman raged and in the next second, his face was visible, thankfully not that close. "Is that you, hedgehog!?," he shouted.

"Yes, and I'm not deaf.," Sonic replied coolly. "Sonic!?" He could see, how Tails tried to find a way around the doctor. "Buddy, what are you doing?," the hero asked, concerned. He wasn't so sure, if it was safe where he was.

"Eggman told me about a brain chip, that is in number 300, I'm trying to hack the antenna here to stop it from functioning!," Tails explained, having crawled through Eggman's legs finally to get closer to the camera.

"You can hack?," John asked, surprised. "Who's there?," Tails and Eggman both asked at the same time, Eggman after bragging, "Of course I can!".

"That's John, a friend of mine.," Sonic explained, noticing the blush on John's pale cheeks upon being called that. He had never been the friend of anyone or called this before.

Tails relaxed the answer, while Eggman just frowned – friends of Sonic were never a good thing for him. "Okay...," Tails said slowly, trusting Sonic's judgment, but wondering, who this human was and what he did, where Sonic was right now.

"Maybe together we can hack the nanobots, that are fueling this number 300, too.," John suggested, not mentioning, what those things actually did.

"I would help, but Eggman won't give me back the laptop.," Tails growled annoyed, looking up at Eggman, who just huffed. "As if you could handle such a complicated machine!," he snarled.

"I'm an inventor, in case you forgot! And unlike yours, my inventions don't backfire!," the fox snapped. "What did you say!?," Eggman hissed threateningly. "Hey, could you focus a little!?," John shouted at them and soon, they were fighting like three brothers. It would have been cute – if it would be the right time.

While Sonic tried to think about a way to get all of their attentions at once – Tails and John wouldn't be a problem, but Eggman would never listen to him – Kylie didn't need to think for even a second.

"Hold her for a bit, please.," she said, shoving the baby in a surprised Sonic's arms, who fumbled with trying to find the right grip, before she went to John and gave him a hard hit on his head, that made him yelp, in surprise, rather than pain, and jump back. The woman used the opening to slam her fist on the keyboard, which caused a warning sound, because more than one key were pressed at the same time.

The noise let Tails and Eggman stop and stare in her direction. "What was that?," Tails wondered, his ears twitching, but Kylie had taken her hand already off the keyboard again, so he couldn't hear the noise anymore and therefore not identify it.

"Sounded, like someone can't use a keyboard.," Eggman growled, he had probably heard this noise many times – if only, because he used to slam his head on his own keyboard in the past, out of the frustration of getting beaten _again_ by a hedgehog. "No, that was on purpose.," Kylie replied calmly.

Immediately, Bokkun's eye was back in front of the camera. "Kylie!," he cheered, seemingly wanting to hug the camera. "Bokkun, please step away.," the woman said simply.

The eye filled with tears. "A-are you angry at me?," he whimpered. "Of course not." Kylie's voice had softened to calm him. "But I'm angry at your creator. Can you please let me see him?"

"Oh, okay." The little robot stepped away with Eggman's growl of "Traitor!". "Eggman.," Kylie's sharp voice let him turn to the camera. "Give Tails the laptop." "Ha, as if I would listen to you!," the human laughed.

"Oh, I would, if I were you, considering, that I have a hedgehog here, who can bring me in less than a minute up to you and won't stop me from pushing you off the roof. It's a deep fall, so I wouldn't tempt me.," Kylie replied smugly. That she would have to fight a dizzy spell and nausea beforehand, was something the doctor didn't need to know.

"As if I would believe that. This blue hedgehog would even save me, that's his downfall as a hero – his big heart.," the villain laughed.

Sonic frowned. Sadly, he had a point. That was exactly, what he would do. Not even Eggman deserved death.

"You misunderstood me, I guess.," Kylie's calm voice let everyone look up. "I don't doubt Sonic's altruistic thinking, but I highly doubt, that he is physically able to stop me." This caused everyone to stare at her confused.

"Sonic won't lift a finger to stop me, because this could harm me, his only option are his words – and I can promise you, that I will stubbornly ignore all of them. This means, that he would need to prevent you from the falling, but thanks to your and Perringten's combined efforts, he isn't exactly in the best shape of his life. Do you think, that it's enough to save you?," she asked, a challenge in her voice.

Eggman stared at the camera and you could almost _see_ his brain working in overdrive. It was a miracle, that there wasn't steam coming out of his ears.

After a good minute, he sighed and held the laptop out to the surprised Tails. "Take it!," he snarled, a hint of defeat in his voice.

"Tails." Kylie's voice let the fox jump. "Er...y-yeah...?," he stuttered, a little intimidated of how she had handled Eggman. "You still have this Miles Electric with you, correct?" "Sure.," the fox replied, calmer now, as her voice was friendlier again. "Can you use it to link with the laptop and the network here?"

Kylie remembered Tails' explanation about his invention he had given her on the way to the Island – she just hadn't understood anything of it, so she better asked.

"Of course, piece of cake." "Good. Then please, do that and then give the laptop back to Eggman."

"Why?," both, the human and the fox, asked. "Because three heads are better than two. I hate to admit it, but he can help you – unless he _wants_ to take the fastest way down.," she added, when Eggman looked, as if his next words would be something negative. "...Fine.," the doctor grumbled and Tails went to work.

John came closer again and pressed a button, which caused a mute-symbol to appear on the window of the camera, shutting the sound out for the ones on the roof.

"Man, are you talking with your children that way?," he asked and flinched, when he saw the woman's death glare. "Are you implying, that my children are evil?," she hissed.

"N-no...!," the young man squeaked. "Good. Because they aren't. And no, I don't need to talk with them that way. They are more intelligent than Eggman and know not to anger me. You should maybe communicate with them now, unless you want them to destroy the camera.," she added with a smirk and Sonic and John looked at the screen to see Tails, Eggman and Bokkun squeezing themselves in front of the camera, obviously shouting, to get his attention.

John hurried to quickly switch off the muting and while he tried to calm the raging doctor down, Kylie swayed back to where Sonic was, pausing to lean against a table and rest a moment. These nanobots were taking a toll on her.

She looked up, when she felt a breeze and discovered a chair, where she had stood before, that hadn't been in the laboratory so far, with Sonic sitting innocently on the edge of the table next to it.

Kylie smirked and walked over, plopping on the piece of furniture tiredly. "Thanks.," she smiled at Sonic and took the baby back from him, to check her over once more. "No problem. So...you wouldn't listen to me, huh?," Sonic asked with his own smirk.

Kylie grinned. "One word of you and I would stop immediately. But the good doctor doesn't need to know that.," she chuckled silently, while the three eggheads were now talking in a foreign language – at least for them – about technical stuff and strategies. She hoped, that they would have success quickly.

* * *

"Everything okay?," Mighty asked, when Scythe, once again in her wolf form, got thrown on her back next to him. "Sure. It's just annoying, that this thing's not dying.," the girl growled, pushing herself up again. Her thick wolf fur had saved her from broken bones, but not from bruises. She would be sore, once this was over... If it was ever over – this thing was recovering quicker, than they could hurt it.

Shaking off the thought, she attacked, together with Shadow's Chaos Spears and surprisingly enough, they actually managed to ram the thing in the ground without it standing up immediately. To be precise, it wasn't moving at all anymore...

"Did we tire it out, or something?," Scythe wondered, turning back. Shadow frowned and came closer to it. He wouldn't trust the peace, not like last time.

All three mobians flinched, when they suddenly felt something creeping in their bones. And even though they didn't speak it out, they all thought the same: Whatever this was, it was evil...

* * *

Satisfied, Mephiles licked the blood off his claws. Tearing apart bodies wasn't as fun as doing it with living ones, but it did still hit the spot. Thankfully, he had found some more – killed by Fleetway, judging by the scent –, that had helped to quench this thirst completely.

Feeling calmer now, the unwanted touch replaced by the feeling of semi-warm blood on his skin, he took his time with cleaning his body again and as he loved the taste of blood, the cleaning method was obvious.

As he didn't have a normal body, especially without the collar, he wasn't afraid of those nanobots he swallowed in the process. Besides...in his very own way, he trusted this John to cancel it out soon.

Shaking off the thought, he continued his cleaning. He was sure, that neither Silver nor the woman would appreciate him looking like he committed a murder. It was interesting, how he actually valued her opinion. Maybe he shouldn't have bound himself to her with this declaration of his debt? No, he was someone of honor, he would pay her back and if it took her whole life time.

Suddenly, he stopped his ministrations of getting clean, his head whipping up and his ears pressing to his skull, while his pupils shrunk, as the almost forgotten energy washed over him.

 _Impossible._

* * *

"YES! We did it!," John couldn't help but cheer, when the relieving words 'Brain chip deactivated' and 'Nanobots deactivated' appeared on the screen.

"Good work, guys!," Sonic praised them, which made John and Tails beam, while Eggman was too busy with praising himself to hear him.

Kylie took a breath of relief, feeling, as if a whole mountain fell off her shoulders and as if she could breathe freely for the first time in hours. "Thank you, John.," she thanked him in earnest. The man blushed. "I-I...er..."

Another alarm sound filling the room let him whip around and stare with wide eyes at the black screen, on that blinked new words in an angry red. "Plan Z... Emergency... protocol...?," he read slowly off the screen. "Hey, what is the meaning of this!?," Eggman's voice raged, he probably saw the same right now on the laptop. Their visual connection to them was cut off, so they had to guess.

"It...it must be some kind of backup, but I don't know of what kind...," John stammered, overwhelmed of what happened now. He tried to get access to the computer again, but to no avail.

"A backup? That is the understatement of the century!," a voice snorted and they turned around to see Mephiles appearing out of a shadow. "What do you mean?," Sonic asked. "This Perringten never ceases to annoy me. He apparently found a rare crystal of Dark Chaos Energy."

"There is something like Dark Chaos Energy?," Sonic wondered. He had never before heard of it.

"Indeed there is. It had been sealed away long ago, but sometimes, there escape crystals of it, but they can be found only rarely, before they are destroyed again naturally. I wonder, how he got one of those." "Are you kidding? My father's rich, he could buy a soul, if he wanted. To get this crystal had to be like grocery shopping for him.," John growled.

"So, is this thing like a Chaos Emerald?," Sonic brought the topic back to the problem at hand. "To put it simple, yes." "That means, it will lose its power sooner or later, right?," Sonic asked, knowing, that the regular Chaos Emeralds could actually lose their stored energy and needed time to recover, if he himself didn't tire out first. His fight with Perfect Chaos had showed him that.

"No. That is the reason, why they had been locked away. As long as there is hatred, sadness, fear and rage, a crystal of Dark Chaos Energy will never lose its might.," Mephiles explained. "And the ukes are terrified right now.," Kylie understood. "Exactly." "Great.," Sonic groaned.

"Leave that to me." "Huh!?" Surprised, everyone turned to the computer, from that had come Eggman's voice. "To _you_?," Tails' voice asked confused. "Yes. I can cancel this problem out, at least for a while. I just need a few minutes, so you better prepare!"

Sonic frowned, before sighing. "Fine, I trust you. Tails, be careful, okay? I'll get you, as soon, as this is over." "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.," the fox reassured, before he and Eggman went away, to do whatever he planned.

Sonic turned around to Mephiles. "Can you bring us to Angel Island?" "Sure.," the other shrugged and snapped his fingers, leaving the room empty afterwards.

* * *

Several minutes earlier:

Number 300 stood again, but this time, there was something off about him. His fur stood straight and seemed to crackle with energy. His eyes were glowing in a dark purple and while they watched, energy of the same color appeared around his fists.

Suddenly, he disappeared and the next thing Mighty knew was the fist, that buried itself deep in his abdomen and threw him back, right through a line of trees on Angel Island. Groaning in pain, he came to a stop on several trees he had knocked over. His body felt, as if every single bone of his body was destroyed to dust.

"Finally!" He opened his eyes upon hearing that and saw Fleetway coming towards him, a piece of the tree still stuck on his quills and Blush's cocoon under his left arm. "Was pretty mean of you, but you're lucky, that I'm too keen on getting this guy back right now.," he grinned, showing off his fangs.

His Chaos Energy flared, causing the wood to break and fall off his quills, before he came closer and placed the cocoon gently down next to the armadillo. He could have thrown Blush's cocoon through several trees without harming the girl inside of it at all, but he didn't seem to know that.

"See you later, then. Bye!" And the seme stormed away, leaving the two mobians in a cloud of dust, that made the male cough. Revenge was so sweet, at least for the light seme.

He came to the battlefield, where Scythe was chasing after the far too fast number 300, trying to avenge by now two friends.

Number 300 dodged her last attack, that had brought her too close to him to dodge herself, and then attacked with a punch, that would have hurt her like Mighty – or more, considering that she had no scales to protect her – if it weren't for Fleetway, who grabbed the artificial creature and yanked it back, before it could hit her. Slashing its belly open, he turned it, so that Shadow could perforate its back with Chaos Spears.

All three hedgehogs frowned, when the wounds healed so easily, as if they were simply erased. "He's not making this easy, is he?," Fleetway groaned, when the hedgehog suddenly freed himself out of his grip and raced towards the building, out of that just came some humans. He attacked them with giant Chaos Spears, leaving nothing but ash from his victims, before they had the time to even scream.

With their mouths open, Shadow, Fleetway and Scythe watched, how the energy around the artificial creature turned darker and stronger in the light of the flame, that his last attack had created.

* * *

A few minutes earlier:

"We're almost at the exit, by the way.," Rouge told Shy with a smirk. Somewhere on the way, she had found her amusement in taking her 'direction-giving' to the next level. She told Shy all five seconds, what the next direction was, even if she wasn't even close to the next corner.

"I know that, I can feel the aura-pool already.," Shy growled, getting more annoyed by the second by her 'help'.

Finally, she saw the puddle of blood from the Commander, shining through the bodies moving in front of her. It was interesting, that the men were still obeying, but if she thought about it, she wasn't surprised. Hurting the hedgehogs like they did... took cowardice. And cowards just cared for their own lives and welfare, they wouldn't try anything, that might result in them getting killed.

In front of the exit, however, they stopped for the first time. Fighting noises were audible and now they had two fears – one in front of them and one behind them. "What are you waiting for? Just hurry.," Shy said impatiently.

Stance seemed to have still a spark of fight in him, because he didn't make a move towards the exit and rather turned around to the teen, glaring down on her. Well, he had lost a hand thanks to her, so he wasn't exactly trusting her not to hurt him again because of a mood swing.

"Why don't you go first?," he growled, while the others took no chances and rather left quickly.

The mobians had no choice but to wait, as the remaining two humans were blocking the exit.

"What, do you think I'm testing if it's safe enough for my friends, or something like that?," Shy smirked, hell bound to keep up her tough facade, until they could get to Angel Island safely.

That she had chosen the wrong words at the worst time possible, proved the next second, when they heard a loud noise behind Stance's back. The man whipped around, making room for Shy in the process to see, what was happening outside.

There, where the other humans had had to be right now – was just a giant flame on the sand.

Shy blinked, when she saw something dark getting sucked out of the flame and towards a hedgehog, that could only be number 300 and was hovering over the inferno. But he was almost completely different now. Not only in appearance, he suddenly had an aura. The last time she had seen him, he hadn't have one – which had crept her out, actually – now, he did.

The aura surrounded him like a dark shadow, that drank the darkness of the aura of death, that appeared always after an untimely, violent death. He had killed those humans just to feed himself, she realized.

And this wasn't all. She could now see more auras, some weaker and some stronger, getting sucked into the creature, strengthening it, coming from the figures on the beach – she guessed, that it was Scythe in her wolf form and two hedgehogs, judging by the silhouettes –, Angel Island, the persons around her...and herself. And she knew, what this aura was.

Fear.

This thing was living off a constant stream of fear. Unlike the aura of death, the auras of feelings lasted for as long as a person felt them, they would never stop or lessen.

She closed her eyes for a second and calmed down to see, when she opened her eyes, that her aura wasn't one of fear anymore. It still got sucked in the direction of the artificial creature, though, as it was anxiety. Apparently, negative feelings were the ones, that fed this creature. Great. At a place like this, this thing had plenty of nourishment.

The head of the beast snapped suddenly to them and Shy couldn't help, but flinch. The dark eyes glowed menacingly and slowly, it flew over to them. She could guess, that its intentions for them weren't good.

Shy noticed faintly, that she was backing off, how her aura changed to fear again. This time, not even the boundaries of the building would stop it. _Nothing_ would stop it, she could see it in its aura. All it wanted was to kill and to spill blood. And maybe...it couldn't get satisfied at all.

At once, Scythe in her giant wolf form jumped between the entrance and the artificial creature. "Hands off my friends!," she snarled at him.

A light suddenly lit up the hallway and then, a golden glowing hedgehog stood in front of them. Rouge blinked, recognizing him. "Shadow?," she asked nonetheless. "No time to explain.," he replied, grabbed the bat and disappeared with her and the small family in her arms, making the single uke gasp and stumble back in shock.

Just then, another golden hedgehog – Shy remembered faintly, that she had seen him earlier, with a green one in his arms – came through the entrance. "Alright, who needs a taxi?," he asked, with a very unfitting grin on his face.

He seemed confused, though, when he saw three persons looking at him. "Okay...I have only place for two.," he said, raising his hands, as if to show them, that he had no third one to use...which was normal.

Shy rolled her eyes. "Take them." She grabbed the uke and pushed him gently closer to Stance and Fleetway. "And you?," the seme asked. "Idiot, you take injured people first. Besides, it's not that far away. Take them and keep this one away from the hedgehogs.," Shy grumbled and pointed at Stance.

"Aye aye!," the male saluted and grabbed the two surprised males around their middles, lifting them up effortlessly and somehow made his way through the small entrance with his cargo.

It was then, that Scythe moved and Shy saw her stopping number 300, who obviously wanted to follow Fleetway. She had jumped on him, standing with her whole weight – that wasn't little in this form – on his shoulders, her fangs boring into his chest and back, while the hedgehog kept staying in the air, carrying the heavy burden effortlessly.

The female's efforts of trying to bite the enemy in half didn't last long, the seme had just reached Angel Island, when the artificial creature threw her off.

"Scythe!," Shy called out worriedly, when she landed hard on the sandy ground, close to the entrance again.

"I'm fine..." Slowly, the teenager forced herself up. "I'll go at it again and you run, got it?," she instructed. She didn't ask, why Shy wasn't helping – she knew her friend good enough to know, that she would do so, if she could.

"Now!," the girl barked and jumped once more on the creature, her jaws clamping down on its side this time, while Shy ran as fast as she could out and towards the other island. Her stamina was at its limit, she panted after only a few meters and her lungs started burning.

Suddenly, a light flashed in front of her, coming from Angel Island, and she lost her footing due to her surprise, sliding a little and falling to the ground.

Gritting her teeth, she sat up quickly and wanted to run further, but a sharp pain in her left leg let her hiss, fall back and grab it. It didn't bleed, but it definitely hurt, too much to move it. "Wrong time to be clumsy.," she thought, when she felt something behind her.

She whipped around and saw number 300 towering over her. Her eyes shifted over to Scythe, who lay far too quiet in the sand, before snapping back to the danger, meeting the dark glare almost fearlessly.

"You want to kill me, huh?," she asked lowly, strangely not as afraid, as she should be. The eyes of her soon-to-be-murderer narrowed. "I really hope, that it makes you happy to take innocent lives, just because someone ordered you to.," she added.

The dark glowing eyes widened, before their owner raised his hand, ready for the final blow.

Shy closed her eyes, readying herself for her own end, feeling still strangely calm despite the situation. She jumped, when she felt the impact of the blow, when she heard the tearing of flesh and felt, how blood splattered on her. But...it wasn't hers...

She opened her eyes again and her heart almost stopped beating at the sight greeting her.

* * *

"NO!" Emma's scream let the two kids next to her flinch. "W-what's wrong?," Ray asked fearfully, especially, when the girl started to cry. Emma's tears never meant something good.

"P-please, Shy, p-please don't let h-him...," Emma sobbed, raising her head to gaze at the trees above her, the tears rolling down her furry cheeks without stopping.

"Please, don't let Sonic die."

* * *

Two minutes earlier:

Sonic hadn't had many travels with Mephiles – but this was the worst by far. Just after they had been engulfed by that strange cold light, he had suddenly felt, as if he had been thrown against a very hard wall and had then found himself on his back on sand.

Groaning, he pushed himself up, seeing John, Kylie and Mephiles sprawled out around him. Kylie had curled herself around the baby, protecting her.

"What was that?," John muttered, while he stood up, too. "I forgot about the barrier.," Mephiles replied, straightened again and brushed himself off.

"What? What is with it?," John asked, while helping Kylie to stand up, who had, with the baby and her infusion, her hands full.

"I belong to the creatures, that the barrier holds back.," Mephiles shrugged. "And you remember that NOW!?," John asked incredulously.

Sonic gave a crooked smile at their antics, before he suddenly felt an icy chill, that let him whip around quickly.

His eyes widened upon seeing the human girl he had last seen in Kylie's old ward, sitting in front of number 300, who he recognized effortlessly.

He had raised his hand and it took no genius to guess his intentions. Without a second thought, Sonic started to run and caught the fist, that was meant for the girl, with his stomach.

He gasped, when he felt, that the punch went far deeper in his abdomen, than it should, he heard tissue rip and felt, how his body was pierced painfully, the fist of the attacker going through his body, before getting pulled out abruptly, almost throwing him off balance, but he caught himself. Blood streamed out of him endlessly, even when he pressed his almost limp hand against the hole to try and stop the bleeding.

But there was something more. A strange, painful burning had started in his abdomen, around the wound, and was now spreading out like poison. Something seemed to eat away at him, more and more, draining him of what little energy he had left and a thought hit him, "The Dark Chaos Energy.". It was in him, thanks to number 300's attack, and was destroying his very own Chaos Energy, without giving him a chance to stop it.

The world suddenly turned and blurred in front of his eyes and he felt himself collapse, falling backwards on the ground, his body too numb by now to feel the impact.

He felt the blood rushing out of his back and the Dark Chaos Energy draining him still. His breathing grew shallow and started to hurt and he was sure to have blood in his lungs. He struggled to stay awake, but his consciousness slipped away the more he fought.

A strong gust of wind suddenly hit him, followed by the pain, that the sand falling in his open wound caused, and he groaned weakly. This new burning sensation did little to keep him awake, though, he seemed to fade even quicker and far too soon, everything went black.

* * *

A bit earlier:

Rouge stumbled a little back, when Shadow let go of her and noticed, that she was now surrounded by the plants of Angel Island and next to a strange hut out of stone.

She turned back to Shadow and took in his golden appearance. "How?," she finally asked. "I used the Chaos Emeralds for this. Anyway, have you seen Kylie and Sonic somewhere?," the dark hedgehog replied.

"No, but I saw Mephiles. What is he doing here?," the bat asked back. So far, she hadn't noticed Mephiles, until she had been eye to eye with him. "That's a long story. Listen, stay here, I will-"

"Silver, stop!," a voice interrupted him and when they turned around, they saw Silver and also Scourge forcing their way out of the stone hut with a worried Blaze on the silver hedgehog's heels. Both looked in no shape to walk or to move at all, but they did so nonetheless.

"Silver, please, you are in no shape for this, you need to rest!," Blaze tried to talk some sense into her brother.

"I can't..." The voice of the hedgehog was weak and raspy, but still audible. "S-something's wrong...with Sonic...," Silver managed to bring out.

Shadow's eyes widened and he disappeared in a flash of light, before someone could try to stop him.

* * *

He reappeared on the beach to a horrifying sight: He saw, how number 300 just pulled his blood coated arm out of Sonic's abdomen, how the hero struggled to stay upright with his Chaos Energy fading visibly – he registered faintly in the back of his mind, that this should be impossible, that Sonic was immortal now and shouldn't die – and then, how his love collapsed, without moving anymore.

A strange calmness suddenly took over his thinking and he felt a hot sensation starting in his chest, that got stronger and spread out the more the realization sunk in.

This thing had hurt Sonic.

It had dared to touch him.

It had _dared_ to spill his _blood._

 _It had_ killed _him._

He never noticed, that the golden glow around him turned to a light red, that burnt his skin and fur, his body numb to the pain it caused. He would never see, how his eyes turned to the color of liquid silver.

He balled his fists, collecting energy around them and then raced towards the one, who he hated like nothing before, only one thought in his mind:

 _I'll kill him!_

* * *

Shy didn't know, for how long she had sat there and was practically paralyzed in shock, staring into nothing.

Suddenly, a strong breeze, that almost threw her over, brushed over her and she finally snapped out of her daze and looked up just in time to see number 300 getting attacked by a strange red blur, that carried him far, far away from them, up in the sky.

A small groan let her turn back to the gruesome reality and she suddenly found herself on her knees next to the blue hedgehog.

She felt bile rising upon seeing the hole in his body, going through completely. She tried to stop the bleeding by pressing her hands on the wound, but she knew, that it was futile, even though one of her hands was already enough to cover up the wound. He would bleed out either way, the sand under him continued to get soaked with the red fluid still.

In her desperation, she tried to call forth her powers to still the bleeding, but it didn't work, she couldn't feel the tiniest spark of them inside of her.

Her insides practically froze, when she noticed, how his aura turned weak and dark. To the aura of death. She was watching him die and there was nothing she could do.

"No.," she whimpered, feeling bad memories return. This was far too close to her past. It repeated itself...

She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, trying with all her might to block out the haunting memories, that clawed at her brain.

The girl would never be aware of the fact, that she tried to enlighten the fading aura of the hero with her own, like she had seen Sonic do it earlier with one of the ukes in the ward. It didn't work, she was simply too inexperienced to do this.

"Please, please don't die.," she whispered, feeling tears in her eyes. "You can't die, you just can't." Her hand on top of the one, that still tried to stop the bleeding, balled itself to a shaking fist.

"Please, I don't want you to die. I don't want to lose another person I cherish.," she sobbed. Desperation burnt her insides and she found herself praying. Praying for a miracle, for anything, that would save his life and her heart.

A sudden red burning behind her closed lids let her eyes snap open, to see a white ball of light, that surrounded her hands. But...she was too weak, that wasn't her light!

The light started to grow, with each passing second, until she and Sonic had been swallowed by it.

But it didn't stop there, the ball of light grew bigger and bigger, until it reached Shadow, who was too busy with beating every inch of number 300 he could get his hands on, to notice it approaching.

He gasped, when the light touched him and he felt, how the Chaos Emeralds got pulled out of him at once. And like with Sonic before, the sudden loss, but also the aftermath of his rage, were too much for him to take and he passed out almost instantly.

Number 300 wanted to use the opening to get back at him, but the light engulfed the unconscious seme and pushed the artificial attacker back, keeping him out, no matter, how hard he punched the suddenly impenetrable surface.

* * *

With her mouth open, Shy looked around the completely white room they were suddenly in. The light was blinding, but she had never been affected by brightness, not before and not now. Besides her and Sonic, nobody was in this endless, warm room.

"H-hello?," she called, insecurely. Whose light was this? Why was it here? Why were _they_ here?

She looked down and shuffled a bit back, when she saw the strange dark glow, that illuminated Sonic's body. On her hands, that had tried to stop the bleeding until now, was an energy of the same color, burning her skin. The glow and the energy, that had caused it, got weaker while she watched in confusion, the white light around them seemed to clean them of it, until it was gone and Sonic was surrounded by his normal aura, although it was weaker than it should be and she noticed with newly burning worry, that it turned into the aura of death still.

She jerked, when she noticed a flash of color in the corner of her eye and whipped around, but relaxed, when she recognized the Chaos Emeralds she had seen on Angel Island. The stones were moving in a row, coming closer to them, circling them and then stayed hovering calmly around them in a wide circle.

Shy frowned, wiping her eyes. Was it because of the tears, that were still in her eyes, or... did those Emeralds really look bigger than the last time she had seen them?

Even without her tears, though, the Chaos Emeralds had now the size of the giant Master Emerald she had also seen on Angel Island.

While she watched, the gem stones started to glow one by one in their colors, the seven lights mixing with each other, until they were practically engulfed in a rainbow colored cocoon.

She noticed movement next to her and turned her head to see Sonic...standing. Her mouth dropped open again. His fur was glowing in lighter shades than usual and his body was engulfed by an aura, that looked like the same rainbow colored light around them.

His quills were standing straight, with a pure white energy crackling between them. The same energy was surrounding his fists.

The wounds, the new one, as well as the older ones, even the bandages on his hands, were gone, together with the blood. And, she realized, the Chaos Emeralds had disappeared, too.

"Hey." She flinched, upon hearing Sonic talk without any signs of weakness or pain and raised her head to look in his eyes, that changed their color every few seconds. A smile was on his lips. "Thanks.," he grinned.

Shy blinked. Did he think, that she did this? Still, she found herself responding with, "Y-you're welcome."

Sonic's smile widened for a few seconds, before he turned his back to her. "Time to end this for good.," he declared.

The light shattered around them, as if it had been glowing glass, revealing number 300 over them in the air. Sonic smirked and was quick to rise on his eye level, with Shy staying on the sand.

She watched him, his glowing self for a few seconds, but then her vision blurred, the fading amount of adrenaline in her blood now taking a toll on her. Before she really realized it, she collapsed on the sand and a moment later her world went dark.

* * *

Sonic had no idea, how he was still alive or how he got rid of the Dark Chaos Energy, but he wasn't complaining. He probably had to thank the girl for that – and for the raw power he felt flowing through his veins.

He could see the dark energy coming from number 300 and how he collected it in his fists, ready for an attack. Just a blink later, he already shot Chaos Spears at the hero, but he caught them, the dark energy turning into Chaos Energy. He attacked with his own energy spears, but they also got caught and turned into the opposite.

Sonic grinned. "You're not making this easy, huh? Alright then." Not long after that, they were just two blurs, chasing and attacking each other.

A little earlier:

"What are those?," Tails asked, carefully examining the cuff-like rings Eggman had produced out of Decoe's and Bocoe's hollow middles. Not even the robots themselves had known, that they had space there. Apparently, Eggman had built them as storage units for important stuff and had made them to his assistants later.

There were eight rings in total, all looking the same: out of metal with small wires going over it, creating a crisscross-pattern over the thin metal surface.

"Is there truly something the great Tails doesn't know?," Eggman taunted, while using a small blow-torch – it was ridiculous, what he kept in his assistants – to braze the two halves of the eighth ring together.

Tails felt, how he turned red in embarrassment, which seemed enough for Eggman, because he laughed shortly in triumph, before he explained, "These are my Egg-Energy-Suppressors."

The fox had to bite his lip so he wouldn't comment on the name. "And what are they for?," he asked, rather to keep the man as talkative as he was right now, than because he couldn't already imagine that by the name.

"The one, who wears them, is unable to concentrate any kind of Chaos Energy.," Eggman explained, obviously proud of himself.

Tails remembered, that Shadow's rings had a similar effect, but they only suppressed as much as he needed it, not everything. He hated to admit it, but this was a great invention. However...

"Why did you invent this in the first place? I mean, you couldn't foresee all this!," he questioned.

"Of course I couldn't. These were meant for Sonic and Chaos.," Eggman replied, waving his hand, while he searched through Bocoe's torso again. It disturbed the robot greatly, but he didn't question his creator.

"Chaos?," Tails repeated surprised. He had already imagined Sonic's name in the answer – it always was his answer, it seemed –, but the mentioning of the rather harmless water god (if he didn't have world-threatening rage fits) was unexpected.

"Of course! I've tried to get this useless puddle of water to rage again for months.," Eggman grumbled. "Er...and where was Knuckles during this time?," Tails asked, wondering, why he heard of this for the first time. "Fighting off the robot-minions I sent beforehand."

Tails sighed inwardly. Of course, Knuckles wasn't someone to make a fuss out of something as trivial as a 'little' attack on his home.

"Why are you telling me that? I mean, should I know of your plan?," Tails asked, watching, how Eggman finally found a cord, that had an adapter for a laptop or something similar on one end and two exposed wires sticking out of the other end.

He connected the wires with the ones of the ring he held and put the other end in the laptop, answering, while he was typing, "It doesn't matter, I gave up on it. This stupid god is thanks to Sonic a saint. Nothing I tried worked and I'm tired of trying to get him to do as I say."

"Did you want to force him to obedience with those rings?" "Exactly. And once Super Sonic would have appeared, I would have given him the other four."

Eggman frowned, while he took off the wires and placed them on another ring. "Sadly, there is a little bug I could never sort out. These cuffs will stop functioning after just a few minutes.," he admitted.

"Oh, that's why you said, that you can cancel that out for a while.," the fox genius understood.

"Yes. That should be enough time for Sonic.," Eggman replied, while he programmed the third ring.

"It's hard to believe, that you of all people are helping us.," Tails grinned. "Don't fool yourself. Once this Perringten's history, we will be enemies again."

"And after you have rebuild your lair, right?," Decoe questioned, which brought him a death glare from his boss.

All occupants of the roof jumped, when it became bright behind them. So far, they had been too absorbed in their tasks of watching and working to really notice, what happened around them. The giant ball of light however, that even drowned out the sunlight, was difficult to ignore. "What is this?," Tails asked. Eggman just squinted, confused.

Suddenly, the light practically shattered, disappearing almost as fast as it had appeared and a blue glowing hedgehog, surrounded by rainbow colored and white energy, rose from the beach past them to face number 300 above them.

"Is that... Sonic?," Tails asked, awed. He had never before seen this form! And yet...he recognized him.

"Alright, that means I have to hurry.," Eggman said to himself and went to programming the fourth ring.

He looked ruefully to the other four. Too bad, that they wouldn't get used, he didn't have enough time to program them as well. As dangerous as this number 300 had already been so far, he rather didn't try to stall. Who knew, for how long Sonic could hold out?

Tails' ears twitched, when he suddenly heard a silent groan. He turned around and his eyes widened upon seeing Shadow lying next to Bokkun, who looked a little overwhelmed.

"Bokkun, where did he come from?," he asked, running to his side and looking the dark seme over to try and see, what was wrong. "I don't know, he just came out of nowhere!," the robot explained, still pretty scared of the hedgehog, who had practically popped out of thin air.

Tails nodded absentmindedly, his eyes going over the slowly disappearing burn wounds on his body, that healed and got covered with fur again, where it had been burnt off, and stopped by the golden rings the hedgehog wore.

They had deep cracks and looked ready to break into tiny pieces in the next few seconds. But these were necessary for him!

He looked around and spotted Eggman's tools and the four unused rings. "Hey, can I use these?," he asked, pointing to them.

"Hm? Yeah, yeah, whatever.," the doctor waved distractedly, his eyes fixed on the screen, while he fumbled the wires off the fourth ring.

In the next moment, he grinned brightly. "Aaaand...go to hell!," he declared, slamming his finger on the Enter-key.

The rings he programmed suddenly lifted up on their own and flew away like very strange frisbees towards where number 300 and Sonic had to be right now.

"How did you do that?," Tails asked, looking after them for a second, before turning to the human.

"Easy, I programmed them to follow number 300's nanobots. I left a single one online, they'll find him, wherever he goes. Wait a second – what do you think you're doing there!?," he interrupted his self-praise to point at his rings in Tails' hands.

"Sorry, but I need them, for Shadow.," the fox replied. "The hell you need! Come here, you brat!," the human raged and wanted to chase after the fox, but the sudden darkness let them both snap around, just like the brightness had done it before.

Their eyes almost popped out of their holes – a giant black ball hovered over them, big enough to bury both islands under it for good.

"Th-that's insane. That's totally insane!," Eggman rasped, his whole body shaking, while Tails took a deep calming breath, took off his gloves and went to work, his now bare fingers orienting themselves in the twilight through his sense of feeling.

"Aren't you scared?," Bokkun asked, who was once again close to tears, but was watching him closely nonetheless, his optic sensors not bothered by the twilight.

"Why should I?," Tails replied, even though his hands were shaking a little. "Sonic's out there and fighting, that's all the reassurance I need. Everything will be okay, but I can't help him right now, that's why I'm doing, what I can." Bokkun just nodded, trying to understand this.

* * *

Just a little earlier:

Sonic and number 300 stopped several meters away from each other, both panting. "You don't give up, do you?," Sonic asked between two pants.

So far, they had been equal in strength, speed and stamina. But the Chaos Emeralds in him, even though they were for some reason stronger than ever, would sooner or later reach their limit, if he didn't do it before, while number 300 would maybe never tire out. He had to end this somehow.

"Why do you fight me?" "Huh?," Sonic asked. He hadn't heard number 300 talk in forever. "Why do you fight me? Why do you fight at all?," the creature asked. "Because I want to protect the people.," Sonic answered, not getting, what he wanted to achieve with the question.

"...protect? That's illogical.," the other almost scoffed. "Who says it has to be logical at all? It's the right thing to do, that's all I need to know. To hurt people is wrong, but I don't think, that you will understand that.," Sonic replied. He couldn't grasp the concept of compassion and care, could he?

Number 300 frowned. It was wrong to hurt people? He let his eyes drift to the beach under them, where the girl was, who had refused to show him fear. Like these mobians before had refused to show weakness.

 _I really hope, that it makes you happy to take innocent lives, just because someone ordered you to_. The girl's words were still fresh in his mind. Maybe that was the problem. He had been ordered to do those things. The wrong things.

No. No, his master was always right, they were wrong...or were they? It was so confusing! He could feel something, that seemed to press on his head...maybe his brain?

He tried to shake it off, to concentrate, to erase the foolish girl's voice out of his being, but it was no use, he couldn't get rid of it. The girl's voice, the hedgehog's voice, the memories of the mobians, who cared about each other...they all swirled in his mind, while this something tried to drown them out, seeming to shred his brain in the process and he found himself holding his head and suppressing screams of pain.

"Hey, are you okay?," he heard the hedgehog's voice somewhere far away from him. He was worried...about him?

No. No, he was the enemy. There was no such thing like feelings. He _needed_ to destroy! That was his purpose and he would fulfill it!

Number 300 never realized, that his chest was glowing in a strange dark violet light, illuminating the number burnt in his flesh. A pulse of energy pushed Sonic, who had come closer, when the artificial hedgehog had seemed to be in pain, back and he needed a few seconds to catch himself.

Before he could, the sunlight suddenly disappeared and he looked up to see a big black ball, held by number 300 over his head, with Dark Chaos Energy pouring in it from his hands. It was condensed to the point, that it was solid like a giant cannon ball.

"What are you doing!?," Sonic shouted, quickly realizing, that the still growing ball could wipe out Angel Island and the Island at once.

Number 300's eyes, that glowed now in pitch black, shifted to him, but didn't seem to see a thing. "I will destroy EVERYTHING!," it screeched, having apparently lost all sense of sanity.

Sonic gritted his teeth and tried to stop him, but the Dark Chaos Energy reacted to his and forced him back, before he came even remotely close. His energy attacks just got absorbed in the growing ball, without doing the slightest damage.

"What now?," he asked himself, when he heard a faint noise. Turning his head around, he saw four objects flying towards him. He easily dodged them, before realizing, that they weren't aiming at him.

The four iron rings were quick to fly to number 300, breaking through his barriers, opening themselves and latching to his ankles and wrists.

Screaming, he tried to get them off for a moment, before the rings glowed and sparked and forced his limbs apart, leaving him open to any attack. The energy around him was gone, but the glowing of his chest still remained and the ball continued to hang over him like a fallen dark moon.

While Sonic watched, an unevenly formed, purple-black glowing crystal shoved itself out of the artificial being's chest and remained there, looking like an ugly medal.

"That must be this crystal of Dark Chaos Energy Mephiles spoke of!," Sonic thought. It seemed to look for another energy-source, as number 300 wasn't providing it anymore.

Not hesitating, he collected energy in his right fist and stormed towards number 300, aiming at and hitting the crystal, shattering it into tiny pieces with number 300 falling limp immediately. The rings turned dark again and his limbs fell powerless down.

The triumph didn't last long for him, the dark energy ball moved suddenly down, as there was nothing to hold it up anymore.

Sonic quickly let himself fall to not touch it, while number 300's limp form disappeared into the ball, a few sparks of energy over its surface the only proof, that something had happened at all. Would this happen to everything and everyone this energy touched? Would they get absorbed and destroyed inside of it, possibly fueling this thing to grow further, so it would swallow Mobius?

The blue hero frowned at those thoughts and let himself fall quicker to bring some distance between himself and the ball, before forming his own energy orb the way he had seen number 300 doing it, one, that was glowing in all colors, growing fast and soon big enough to catch and stop the dark ball...temporarily.

Even though the dark energy of the ball was, well, just energy, its compressed form still got pulled down heavily by gravity and seemed to weigh tons, that Sonic's energy ball – or better he himself, as both energy orbs weren't immune to gravity – tried to carry.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed both orbs away from him, until his arms were stretched out. It took a big part of his reserves, but he needed to get some distance between himself and the energy. He could tell, that the dark energy wanted to unload, that it became too unstable to hold its form and he definitely wouldn't let it let loose this close to everyone or his persona.

He forced himself to rise with his cargo, using his reserves, moving away from innocent bystanders, from both islands, higher and higher, until he almost reached the atmosphere and until he was sure, that nobody would get hurt by the energy he would unleash.

Using the last bit of strength he had – that had been reserved for his landing, but hey, who needed that anyway? – he forced his energy ball to swallow the other so they merged, causing a huge energy impulse just above him, due to the two different energies clashing together. The impact cleared the sky of clouds for miles and pushed him a little down, before glittering sparks of Chaos Energy started to rain down all around him, the only evidence of what had happened.

Panting, Sonic watched the spectacle, while he slowly descended, feeling the last bit of energy leaving him, together with seven lights, that dispersed in all possible directions, once they were free.

A weak smile graced his pale lips. "Knuckles will kill me for losing them...again...," he thought, before blackness claimed him once more, his limp form falling towards the ground...

* * *

"I can't believe, that you used my hard invented rings for this!" "Is it really _so_ hard for you to do something, that is right?" "I already helped this pesky pincushion you call your brother and I helped to kick this Perringten's ass – isn't that enough?"

Shadow groaned, the two voices close to him had woken him up. Both persons, thankfully the loud one, that he had heard first, too, silenced and he opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar silver-gray color on his wrist, that lay on his eye level. Frowning, he blinked to clear his vision and recognized the thing as a ring out of metal. His normal ring was gone. But...he didn't feel as bad as he should...

Finally completely awake, he lifted himself on his hands and knees, noticing another foreign ring on his other wrist.

"I had to replace them, sorry." He turned around quickly in the direction of the voice and saw Sonic's brother, the fox, next to him and a strange human behind him.

He heard a small noise and looked down to see the remains of his rings on a dirty rag the fox held out to him. They had broken to pieces.

"How?," he asked, more to himself, than anything else. "I honestly don't know. I have also no idea, how you ended up here.," Tails explained.

Shadow frowned again, while he looked around, confused by the small sparks of Chaos Energy he noticed now, and tried to recollect his memories. The last thing he remembered was Silver saying...

His eyes widened and he jumped up, startling the two organic beings and the three robots behind the man in the process.

"Sonic! Where is he!?," he exclaimed. "The last time I saw him, he was fighting number 300, up in the sky..." Tails stopped and looked around. He had been too absorbed in his task of helping Shadow to acknowledge the fight around him. He hadn't even noticed, when exactly it had become bright again.

Shadow frowned in worry. Sonic was nowhere to be seen, but if he had seen him fighting, then...was he alright?

"Guys, I can see Sonic! He's falling!," Bokkun suddenly exclaimed. He stood at the edge of the building, looking up to a small dot, that moved towards the beach. His eyes were like binoculars, that's why he could identify the hero already, even with this distance.

"I'll never be able to catch him with the Tornado!," Tails exclaimed, worried. Until he had brought his plane off the roof, Sonic would be too close to the ground already.

Shadow had a similar problem. Even if he jumped down the building, his bones would break and take valuable two minutes at least to heal. And he was too weak – for whatever reason – to run in the building and to make up the time he would lose in the elevators with his speed. He had no chance to contact Rouge – and even she was most likely too tired to catch Sonic. He was at a loss.

"Hey, Sonic's falling slower now!," Bokkun piped up. While Eggman immediately told him not to tell lies and nonsense, Shadow lost no time.

He jumped over the edge of the building, using a few windowsills to break his fall, his eyes never leaving the now gently descending figure, that was now easily to distinguish as Sonic. He would care later for the reason behind the miracle, now, he needed to get to his love.

* * *

A few minutes earlier:

Kylie tried and tried, but she couldn't get her jaw to close again. What she had witnessed, had been unbelievable.

She didn't know, where this light had come from – she had been too absorbed in checking the baby over, after the rough landing, that she had only looked up, when she had noticed the brightness.

The fight (if there had been one, that is) itself had been going on too high above them to see it, but the giant ball, that had threatened to fall on them and the other, that had pushed against it and had been brought out of their reach to explode in the sky, had been impossible to miss.

Now, standing in a shower of sparks, that tingled on her skin, she realized, that she – all of them here – had been close to death. And had been saved by Sonic.

She finally laughed in pure relief and hugged the baby closer, while a silly thought came into her mind, "My kids will be so jealous.". They were both huge Sonic the Hedgehog-fans and had always wanted to be saved by him. After today, she would do everything in her power to avoid that.

"What's that?," John suddenly asked, pointing to a small dot, that seemed to fall towards the beach next to Angel Island.

"That's Sonic, he's falling and, judging by his aura, he's unconscious.," Mephiles commented calmly, watching the growing dot emotionlessly.

He had watched the whole incident, from the almost-murder of the girl to the explosion of the two clashing energies and he was genuinely confused of how much power this one hedgehog possessed. And he wondered, what the human girl had to do with this.

"What!? Can't you do something!?," John exclaimed, ripping out of his thoughts. "I could try to catch him, but if he comes out of this unharmed, well..." The dark being shrugged. He wasn't so sure, if such a strong being should continue to exist anyway.

The sound of the rustling of leaves let them turn around to Angel Island – as Mephiles noticed, the barrier was gone now – to see Silver, Scourge and Blaze coming through the bushes, all three looking at the steadily growing dot, that got here and there pushed around by the wind a little.

"I-is that Sonic?," Silver asked with such a quivering and scared voice, that Mephiles regretted to not have wings or techniques, with that he would be able to catch the hedgehog, if only to ease his love's troubles. Seemed, like Sonic needed to exist further, for his uke's happiness.

"If we don't do something, he will die from the impact.," Blaze said, gnawing her lip and trying desperately to think about a way to save him. Even if she barely knew him, she didn't want someone to die. And then, it hit her.

"Silver!" The male jumped at her shout and turned to her. "Silver, I want you to play now.," the cat said seriously.

What sounded ridiculous for the others, let Silver get nervous. "B-but you said...," he started. "Forget what I said! Your friend needs help! Just do it!," Blaze said sternly and it sounded like an order.

Silver hesitated for a second, but then he nodded, looking more serious than ever, turned to the dot, that was now easily recognizable as Sonic and stretched out his right palm towards him, as if he wanted to greet him.

And suddenly, his hand started to glow in a gentle turquoise light and when they turned to Sonic, he was glowing in the same light. His body was slowly shifted, so that he now floated on his back, as if carried by the air itself, gently descending.

Mephiles looked away from the sight and to Silver, who was panting, sweating and trembling. Whatever he did there, it was weakening him greatly.

Scourge seemed to see this, too, because he placed both hands on his shoulders while still staying next to him, supporting him. "Just a little more, you can do it! Sonic counts on you, okay?," he mumbled, trying to be reassuring.

Finally, after the longest minute in Mephiles' immortal life, he spotted a familiar figure on the beach and quickly hurried to Silver's side.

"Silver, it's enough, stop.," he told him gently. "B-but...," the younger male started, looking to Sonic. He was still several meters over the ground! "It's alright, Shadow will catch him. Just let him go.," Mephiles soothed.

Silver looked to the beach and really, there stood Shadow under Sonic, his arms outstretched to catch him, his eyes never leaving his form, ready to take action, should he continue to fall.

The silver male nodded, but lowered Sonic stubbornly a little farther – if it was just to be sure, or to show his mate, that he could do more than he expected from him, was beyond Mephiles – before the energy around his hand and Sonic disappeared, and both ukes landed safely in the arms of their semes.

"I'm so proud of you, Silver. You did great.," Mephiles praised him silently, while lifting him up. Silver blushed in joy and snuggled closer to him, before passing out, completely exhausted.

Mephiles looked at him for a bit, making sure, that he was alright, before he turned his head to see Shadow coming towards them, Sonic on his arms.

A blue plane flew lowly behind him to Angel Island, but neither male acknowledged it. They were too busy with looking at each other in a silent communication.

"SONIC!" The shout broke their concentration and they looked towards a duo of mobians, a human and three robots, that came running towards them.

Tails had, after Shadow's departure, quickly shooed everyone in his plane and taken off, gliding towards the temple, where Knuckles, of course with the Master Emerald in his hands, had joined him, Eggman and his minions on their way to where Sonic had to be right now.

They stopped, when they reached them and watched silently, how Shadow carefully lowered Sonic on the ground and leaned him against a tree, acting, as if the uke was out of glass. "He's fine.," Shadow told the worried fox. "Tired and exhausted, but fine. Can you look after him, please? There's something I need to do."

"Er...sure...," Tails replied, confused, before shifting his attention to Sonic, kneeling down next to him and checking him over.

Meanwhile, Mephiles also leaned Silver against a tree. "Watch after him, please. I need to finish some business.," he told Blaze, who looked confused, too, but nodded.

They looked up, when a few bushes rustled and a pretty banged up Fleetway appeared, his fur and quills ruffled and his right eye sporting a nice black bruise.

"Seriously, whoever invented girls must have been drunk.," he just ranted under his breath. He spotted Shadow looking at him. "Couldn't you spare a minute to tell your crazy bat-partner, that I'm currently on the good side?," he snarled. "And whoever dug out this pink hammer-bitch from hell better buries her again! Deep! No kidding, she's-"

He interrupted himself, when he discovered Scourge, who had quietly and so far unnoticed from everyone, collapsed against a third tree. "Scourge!" Fleetway was at his side in seconds, looking unsure, if he could touch him. His hands hovered over him, but he was too afraid to hurt him, it seemed.

Kylie watched this for not even a minute, before she gave the baby to John and came over to them.

Fleetway made some space for her, though reluctantly. The only ones he trusted not to hurt Scourge were currently passed out and he had to remind himself, that Kylie had always acted in their best interest.

The woman carefully shifted Scourge, so that he lay on his back and checked him over. "It's nothing serious, just fatigue.," she told him a minute later.

Fleetway took a breath of relief. "Thank you.," he thanked her. She couldn't know this, but he had never thanked anyone in earnest so far – not even Scourge.

"Let's go.," Shadow spoke up and Fleetway looked at him and frowned. "Go? Go wh-?" His eyes widened, when realization hit him and a predatory grin suddenly spread on his face. "Oh. Oh, I see. Sure, give me a sec.," he replied.

Shadow shrugged and, after a last look at Sonic, he turned around and went back to the building. Mephiles did the same, while Fleetway turned to Kylie.

"You look after him, right?," he asked carefully. "Yes, of course.," Kylie reassured him, knowing, that he would leave either way. "Alright. Be right back.," he whispered to the unmoving Scourge, stood up and followed the other two semes.

"Where are they going?," John questioned, confused. Kylie bit her lip. If she was right, then they were doing something, that was so deeply engraved in their instincts, that nothing would be able to stop them.

The elimination of a threat.

Or, what it was for them – revenge for their ukes.

* * *

Jester Perringten sat in his chair, slumped over. It was dark in the room, not even the monitor of his computer was switched on anymore.

The control panel he had used for number 300 lay in pieces in front of the window, whose blinds were shut tightly.

Where? Just _where_ did he go wrong? When did his plan go downhill? He had calculated every risk beforehand, _long_ beforehand.

Did he underestimate these hedgehogs? Did he underestimate Dr. Ellen's traitor-potential? Or this boy's, his 'son's'?

Did he overestimate number 300? No. Not that. He had programmed him himself, he had been perfect! But this fox and this man...

He had thought, that Eggman would be a perfect pawn, he had even let him pay him – he still felt a certain kind of mirth, when he thought about this, him as one of the richest people alive getting paid, as if he needed the money.

It had done the trick – the man had done, what he had wanted, believing, that they were working together, he had even have a few useful inventions, that he stole.

Shooting him and blowing up his lair, once they had had the blue hedgehog securely sedated, had been a satisfying feeling, but he hadn't even dreamt of the possibility, that he would simply switch places with a clone! That had been almost cheating! And then he had dared to sabotage him! If he got his hands on this dirt bag...!

He, the fox and the boy, that was related to him, they had ruined everything! It had never been planned, that the Emergency Protocol of Plan Z activated, it had been simply programmed as a safety measure, he had never believed, that it would ever become necessary. But once it had been triggered, it had taken his control over the situation from him.

Suddenly, number 300 had gone mad, the power of the crystal he had installed as an energy source-replacement had taken it over and it had tried to destroy him! _Him_ of all people!

He had been forced to watch through his surveillance cameras, how number 300 had been defeated by number 299, how the blue pest didn't even die by the fall as a punishment for his interference.

Number 300 would have come to its senses, he was sure of it. The hedgehog had destroyed his creation, before it could correct its mistake of trying to destroy his island.

He had planned it all so well, deposited the nanobots in his employees, as a safety precaution, he had taken the best measures to secure the hedgehogs, to hide his actions. He had chosen reliable personnel, been always careful. How did it go so wrong? The answer just wouldn't come to his brilliant mind.

Muffled screams were audible from the other side of his office and ripped him out of his thoughts. Apparently, they were there. It was time to go.

Slowly, the old man stood up, straightened and walked in front of his desk, leaning against it. He refused to let those rats meet him as someone else than the proud leader of this institution.

He didn't even flinch, when the door got knocked out of the frame, falling to the ground and number 101 stood where it had been, his fist still stretched out from the punch.

"Knock knock~," he practically sang with a huge grin on his face, while coming in the room, stepping over the door and hopping off it, number 125 and number 143 following after him, all three standing now in a line in front of him, their figures breaking the light streaming through the door. They were splattered with blood, that dripped on the carpet. Bloody shoe prints on the door behind them showed their way in the room.

"Game over.," number 125 spoke after a small silence, the other two nodding in agreement.

Jester Perringten couldn't help it – he laid his head back into his neck and laughed. He laughed and laughed, until he couldn't breathe anymore and he had to hold onto his desk for support, otherwise he would have fallen to the floor.

"Y-you th-think, y-you've won, y-you dreamers?," he asked, his laughter had died to mad giggles. He turned around to face the three highly annoyed semes. "You r-really th-think, that it's o-over?," he continued, the giggling slowly subsiding. "You fools! _I_ say, when it's over!," he thundered, all humor gone.

The three semes didn't even bat an eye at this. "You obviously have gone mad to not see reality. All your men are either dead or arrested, your artificial pawn is history and you are facing us three without any chance of escape and you have nothing for your protection – not, that it would matter to us anyway.," number 143 listed easily.

"So what? Do you expect me to _beg_ for mercy? To say, that I _regret_ my doings?," Perringten spat. "Wouldn't change anything, but it would be a good laugh.," number 101 commented.

"You are so naive." Perringten pushed himself away from the desk, watching in satisfaction, how the three hedgehogs stiffened in alarm.

He stalked slowly closer to them, never leaving them out of his sight, while speaking, "You think I regret anything, you fools? You," he gave a short laugh, "You think you are freeing yourselves, if you kill me? You think, that it's over? You fools are nothing but animals with a smidgen of intelligence. _I_ am superior. I _am_ stronger. I am _mightier_. And you know it. You will _always_ be afraid of me, no matter how hard you try to forget. You will _always_ be under me, no matter how hard you try to surpass me. You will _never_ escape me, no matter how far you run."

He stopped a meter away from them and bent forward, so that he was almost on their eye level. "You will _forever_ be mine and that goes _double_ for your precious mates.," he finished.

It were his last words.

After all of this time, he had finally learned the most important rule concerning mobian hedgehogs: Threaten the semes all you want, but never their ukes.

* * *

On this very evening, the devil found his life's end and his three executioners returned shortly after, going to their ukes, ignoring the disturbed looks they got for their blood-painted appearances and taking their loves in their arms, promising them with the scent of their enemy's blood, that they were safe now.

It was over.

* * *

...not yet. I have two more chapters planned, but the hardest part should be over now. The last two chapters should come sooner (I jinxed it, didn't I?).

Bye now and have a nice weekend!


	20. Aftermath

Hi there! I just managed to finish this chapter and hope, that you'll enjoy it!

 **20: Aftermath**

The return to dry land was a quiet one. An exhausted silence hung over Angel Island, that Knuckles steered in the red-orange light of the setting sun in the direction Rouge gave him. She had 'borrowed' a navigation device from one of the GUN-soldiers and used it now to find the right course.

The guardian had decided to take the airway, as he had a good hunch, that his home had been able to land without a problem this close to the Island because of Shy's help. She had probably somehow made space for his island by opening the ground enough for it to fit in, or something like that.

As she was unconscious now, he rather didn't try to let it swim. There were important places under Angel Island's ground, he couldn't risk damaging them by bumping with undersea rocks.

Knuckles looked briefly to the side, where Shy was, hidden with Mighty and Blush's cocoon in Scythe's fur, as she had currently the form of a giant wolf.

Even though the green furred hedgette was sore and had been knocked out for a while, she had managed to get her weapon and to drag her friends on one spot on the clearing, where the temple stood on, to curl around them protectively afterwards. Currently, she was deeply asleep, but her ears never stopped moving, always listening for dangers.

The male GUN-soldiers had retreated with the arrested in a far corner of the island, that Knuckles had shown them, after they had disposed of the bodies of the Island's employees, that hadn't been dissolved by the nanobots, yet. They had just left them on the beach, to get them later with a special unit. There was no way for any of them to tell, if the deactivated nanobots could somehow come back to life and maybe infect others. John, Eggman and Tails had all three come to the conclusion, that they were harmless in the living beings, but neither of them had been able to say, if it was the same for those, who had already died.

Shadow, Mephiles and Fleetway had taken it up to themselves to raid the whole building of the Island for any forgotten people and it wasn't so clear, if they didn't find someone – or just didn't leave them alive. At least the hedgehogs had been all out of the complex already and no one of them had been left behind.

Kylie had managed to convince the three semes afterwards to take a bath in the sea to wash off the blood, which was a great relief for everyone conscious in their range.

Now, the trio sat against the temple, with their ukes in their laps, the submissive hedgehogs wrapped in blankets, that the semes had found in the building during their search. They had brought much more of those and given them to the ukes in the hut, following Shadow's suggestion. He had imagined, that it would be something Sonic would appreciate.

The three semes held some distance to each other, but not much. Shadow could guess, that their instincts dictated 'safety in numbers'.

Sonic's brother Tails sat close to him, staring at the hero almost without blinking, as if he would disappear, if he looked away for a second.

Fleetway was also staring holes in Scourge's face, while Mephiles looked most of the time around, highly on guard, and only sometimes looked at Silver for a few seconds, before returning his attention back to his surroundings. Shadow quickly noticed, that he did the same, he also checked on the fox sometimes.

All three semes snapped to attention, when they heard the rustling of bushes, but relaxed, when they saw Kylie coming towards them, the baby in her arm and the infusion in her free hand.

"Chaos, don't scare me like that! Where were you anyway?," Fleetway snarled, drawing Scourge closer to him.

"I took a look around, if everyone's alright.," Kylie explained calmly. "Didn't you have John and Eggman with you?," Tails asked. He had quickly found out, that the human was the friend Sonic had meant. Kylie had left with them, after he and the semes had settled down, and the two men had been very fond of accompanying her – probably because of the death glares they got from the three hedgehogs. The woman was the only one immune to those glares and they rather stayed close to her, than being alone with the aggressive trio.

"Oh, I did. They are just... indulged in their newest favorite hobby.," Kylie grinned smugly. "What...hobby?," Tails wondered. "Babysitting semes." The woman's answer had a hint of triumph in it.

"Huh?," the males, that were awake enough, asked. "I simply told the semes, that they might become a danger and now, they have all eyes on them.," the woman chuckled with noticeable mirth in her voice.

"Isn't that...well...dangerous?," Tails asked, remembering, how nervous the ukes had been, when they had had to wait in the hallway with the semes. It worried him a little, that Kylie was so carefree about that.

"Not really. The semes are pretty exhausted and running on steam, too. This little lie is just to keep them away from the ukes. You know, to keep them busy. They won't harm them, unless they try to get violent. I told Decoe and Bocoe to not fight them, unless they want to get dismantled, so I think, it should be fine.," Kylie grinned.

She still saw the panicked glances she had received after weaving her way through the afterwards unmovable wall of semes, taking Eggman's robots with her, and, after instructing Bocoe and Decoe, how she had waved with a cheerful "Bye!", while leaving them, together with Bokkun.

The situation wasn't as bad and dangerous as it seemed, as the semes wouldn't attack, they were too tired and would only threat for show – the two men just didn't know that.

Shadow, who watched the satisfaction on her face grow, could guess, that Kylie had somehow heard of John's lie, that had made her mobiphil, and was now seeking revenge. Poor guy, he wasn't envied right now.

"And Bokkun?," Tails asked, having noticed, that she hadn't mentioned him so far. "He's helping Amy and Blaze to watch over the ukes. Lupe and the other female soldiers support them, too.," Kylie explained, turning back to the conversation at hand.

"How are they?," Shadow asked calmly, thinking, that it would be something Sonic would ask about, once he was awake again.

"It took them a while to calm down, but they are sleeping now. I really hope, that there are some females among the paramedics, otherwise they will have a hard time with keeping them this calm.," Kylie mused.

Tails nodded and looked again to Sonic. "They need to look at Sonic, too. He's too quiet.," he mumbled. "What do you mean!?," Shadow panicked, checking Sonic again. "He's usually snoring, when he sleeps. If he's this silent, he isn't well.," Tails explained, getting more and more worried by the minute.

"W-wait...Scourge isn't snoring, either!," Fleetway realized, getting anxious as well now, while Mephiles tried to remember, if Silver did snore. Should he ask his sister!? Did she know that? Was Silver in danger!?

"GUYS!" At once, all males and Scythe turned to Kylie, who had screamed to get the attention of everyone. The semes had become more and more panicked by the second and she hadn't seen another way to reach them, before they became completely incoherent.

Scythe just looked around, finding no danger, and then at her peacefully sleeping friends, deeming them happy and content, before she buried her nose in her bushy tail and returned to dreamland, while the males looked at Kylie, still worried.

"Okay, calm down. It's perfectly normal, that they are this quiet right now. This is called 'Healing slumber' and is something, that all mobians do, who have been through this much."

"What exactly does this mean?," Tails asked, his ears turned to her to not miss a single word.

Kylie smiled and knelt down, so that all three semes and Tails could still see her easily. "Healing slumber is a deep sleep, similar to a coma – but not as bad.," she quickly added, when the worry in the eyes staring in hers grew. "Mobians fall into this deep sleep after an extreme situation, like an accident or a psychological trauma."

"Like when Sonic passes out for a day or two after an especially hard fight?," Tails asked. As they didn't have one of those since Chaos, he had forgotten, how quiet the hero got, while he recovered. After the 'normal' fights, he usually just needed a nap, or a chilidog... and in most cases medical attention.

"Yes, exactly.," Kylie agreed. "During this time, they neither eat nor drink, they just sleep, trying to erase the damage done to their body and soul. Of course, if they are dealing with severe physical and mental injuries, then Healing slumber isn't enough, they'll need some more time to heal after they woke up."

"And for how long will they be in this slumber?," Mephiles asked. "That's sadly never certain. I read a few books about it, before I started my job on the Island, and they all say, that it's completely depending on the person and on the kind of situation they need to recover from. It varies from a few hours to a month."

"A month!?," the semes and Tails echoed. "In very rare cases, yes. Don't worry, I highly doubt, that it will take that long. Sonic and Scourge are strong – and Silver has been protected from the horror mostly. If I would need to guess, then I'd say, that they should be up in a week, maybe one and a half at the latest."

The semes sighed in relief. "What happens, when they wake up?," Mephiles asked. "They will be quite disoriented and weak, probably feverish, too, and they will need bed rest for a few days. It sounds ridiculous, but they actually need to recover from the Healing slumber.," Kylie answered.

"I don't get it.," Fleetway sighed, getting a headache from the flood of information. "During Healing slumber, all body functions are reduced to the absolute minimum and after they wake up, these functions need time to slowly return to normal. They won't be able to stomach much for the first two to three days after waking up, only soups and water, and then, they can slowly start to eat more solid, but light food. If they are up to it, they can move a little, but don't leave them out of your sight, they can easily collapse. As soon as they don't feel fatigued anymore and eat and drink at least half as much as normal for each meal, I would declare them as healthy.," Kylie told them, repeating the information she had learned by heart.

The males nodded, taking mental notes. "Do they need anything? I mean, while they are like this?," Tails asked.

"Just a place to rest, preferably a bed. They won't care, though, they won't wake up, before it's their time to do so, no matter, what you try.," the woman explained.

"Shouldn't we be in the same condition, then? And why did you say, that the paramedics will have trouble with the ukes, if they are also in Healing slumber?," Knuckles piped up, having listened closely, too.

"They aren't. Healing slumber is something, in that fall mobians, who feel safe and don't have anything to do anymore. You need to bring us home, those three need to protect their mates, Tails is worried, Mighty and Scythe are just resting because of exhaustion, but they are still on guard, and the others don't feel at ease enough for Healing slumber. Once in the hospital, or at home, they will also fall into it," Kylie replied. The cocoon, in that Blush was currently, was a special form of Healing slumber – at least that was, what she presumed. The mobians nodded in understanding.

"Aren't you tired? You have been through a lot, too!," Tails pointed out. "Healing slumber isn't something for humans. As long as the little one here isn't in safe hands, I'd rather stay up anyway.," Kylie smiled, looking down on the girl.

She was a little warmer and her tiny hands were grabbing the lab coat she was wrapped in, the fragile fingers moving now and then in her sleep.

She was still too quiet, not making a single noise and Kylie knew, that the girl couldn't have fallen into Healing slumber. Babies couldn't fall into this slumber, because they couldn't last long without food. Older children could stand the deprivation of nourishment for a while, but babies...

"So...Scourge trusts me?," Fleetway suddenly asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. It seemed, as if he had needed to process Kylie's explanation until now. He had a rather goofy grin on his face, seemingly lost on some cloud. He had apparently come to his own conclusion out of her explanation.

The woman sighed. Time for some real talk, before his bubble grew too much. She stood up and came closer to Fleetway to kneel in front of him. The seme raised a brow while he looked at her, confused. "Listen here, at this moment, Scourge clings to you unconsciously, because he knows your scent and his instincts tell him, that you are a strong seme. That _doesn't_ mean," she continued, when Fleetway started to grin proudly, "That doesn't mean, that the past was erased." The grin died instantly and guilt showed on his face upon her words. "Sooner or later, Scourge will remember what happened and distance himself again.," Kylie continued, stating a fact.

Fleetway looked by now like a kicked puppy and she couldn't stand it. After all, it wasn't his fault, that all of this had happened.

She took a deep breath. "Look, this doesn't mean, that there isn't a chance for you anymore. But you need to understand, that relationships aren't something, that you can buy, with a manual. You need to test the waters, you need to be careful and listen to your partner and most of all, you need time. Time to heal wounds and time to build and strengthen bonds between you. If you work for it, don't give up and be patient, you can have a healthy relationship.," she tried to explain. Fleetway, who had listened attentively (she hoped), nodded, deep in thought.

When Kylie looked up, she noticed the same thoughtful expressions on all faces around her. "I should become a date doctor.," she thought with a shake of her head.

Hopefully, the semes took her advice of patience serious. Those three ukes had been through enough for a lifetime and didn't need demanding semes to top it off.

* * *

It was already dark and deep in the night, when Knuckles let the island descend in front of a haven, the closest there was. Oddly enough, even though they had been called hours ago and so far, the soldiers hadn't have any luck with contacting the dry land again (possibly thanks to the masses of Chaos Energy the fight had created), the ambulances were still there, the paramedics waiting patiently, next to a bunch of vehicles from GUN, journalists and photographers, who had nothing better to do than to make photos of pretty much everything. Floodlights illuminated the outer border of the island, when it landed, as if it was a stage.

The male soldiers left the island first, with the arrested and the injured Commander, followed by Kylie, who had been just waiting for the island to descend enough. She had to have more adrenaline than blood in her veins, she mused, seeing, that she was still so restless.

She frowned, when an uniformed man, with almost as much medals on his chest as the Commander, was coming towards her, his black hair neatly combed and his same colored eyes seemingly an empty void. He stopped in front of Kylie, his back straight, his posture demanding respect and started, "I am Vice-Commander Lirus, I hereby ar-"

Impatiently, Kylie shoved the man, who was a head taller than her, to the side. "I don't have time for this, out of my way!," she hissed.

Not acknowledging the flabbergasted man anymore, she marched over to the paramedics, ignoring the journalists, who bombarded her with questions of who she was and what happened and if the rumors of this and that were true.

"Please come closer, I will give you an overview over the situation.," she told the medics with a loud voice. As no one of them knew, what exactly they were dealing with, they were happy with that and they grouped around her, with Kylie giving them short instructions of who should be treated how, giving them the advice to let the female paramedics handle the ukes and then telling them, where they would find their patients. Finally instructed, they grabbed their bags and moved on the island.

Once they were gone, the annoying Vice-Commander was again in front of her. "I-" "-don't have time for this!," Kylie repeated with a growl, interrupting him at the same time, and made her way over to the ambulance with the Commander in it.

One of the paramedics had just finished treating him and was free and she gave him the baby, telling him, what she knew and had done to help her so far. The man immediately rushed to help the little one.

Feeling, that she was in good hands now, Kylie turned around – and found herself once more face to face (more or less) with the Vice-Commander. "I am Vice-Commander Lirus, you are hereby-"

The woman just rolled her eyes. "Read my lips: I. Don't. Have. Time. For. This! Get it in your skull already, Linus!," she snapped, shoved him to the side again and made her way back to Angel Island, ignoring the screams of getting his name wrong behind her.

"Kylie!" Well, this was more the type of shout she listened to. She turned around to see a group of mostly mobians moving to her with Emma in the lead, the girl jumping in her arms, that she immediately stretched out on instinct.

"I was so worried! Will Shy be okay?," she sobbed, her eyes red from the crying she already did. "Yes, don't worry. She's just tired and needs a lot of sleep, okay?," Kylie soothed, gently patting her back. She decided to wonder later, how she could know, that Shy wasn't well in the first place. Emma nodded and Kylie could see the human girl, Kari she remembered her name was, sigh in relief behind the mouse.

"W-what a-about M-M-Mighty?" The woman shifted her eyes to the flying squirrel and smiled at him. "He's also exhausted and will be sore for a bit, but there's nothing serious.," she explained.

Of course she had spared a minute to look them over. As Mighty was covered in scales, she had just felt for any kind of fracture, but found nothing, thankfully. Shy was also unharmed, aside a few bruises and scratches. Painkillers would be his and her best friends for a while, but that was all. Scythe was probably the same, but it was hard to say, as the teen had refused any kind of examination.

"Where is he now?," a new voice asked and Kylie locked eyes with a purple chameleon standing next to Ray. "Next to the temple. Please don't try to get close to the hedgehogs, they'll become very aggressive.," she warned.

The chameleon, the green crocodile and the bee next to him nodded and moved past her, without asking for directions, that Kylie wouldn't have given them anyway – she wouldn't have wanted to upset Knuckles. They obviously knew the way and therefore the guardian, too, though.

Ray scurried after them, while another person approached Kylie. It was a female chipmunk with red hair and blue eyes. There were three more mobians behind her, but Kylie just focused on the female in front of her. It was amazing, how many people the three children had reached in this short amount of time.

"Sally Acorn.," the female introduced herself. "Kylie.," the woman replied. "I would like to know how Sonic, Amy and Tails are.," Sally explained. Ray and probably Emma, in her strange way, had obviously told her several things about what had happened on the Island.

Kylie had a good hunch, that it was mostly thanks to this chipmunk, who had an authoritative character, she noticed, that the paramedics had been still there, when they had arrived.

"Amy is fine so far, Tails needs a doctor to look at his tails and Sonic's in Healing slumber. His mate is looking after him, you shouldn't try to approach him, until he woke up.," she explained.

The news of Sonic's mate made her eyes and the ones of the mobians behind her – a walrus, a coyote and a female rabbit – widen. Well, Kylie rather told them now, than having to go through the hassle of Shadow killing them for getting too close. With Sonic being helpless right now, Shadow was even more dangerous.

"W-where are they now?," Sally asked, getting her composure back. Sonic had most likely never been the type for relationships in their opinion. To come back from hell with a mate, was most likely a surprise for them.

"Sonic and Tails are close to the temple and Amy is currently in a hut, in that are the ukes. Please don't get close to them, if you are male. They are frightened enough.," Kylie explained.

Sally opened her mouth for another question, when a scream behind the human woman let her rush around and run, not even realizing, that she was carrying Emma still on her arms.

The only thought, that was running through her mind, was the direction, from that had come the scream – the temple!

* * *

Reaching her destination, Kylie almost slipped on a fresh puddle of blood, that had yet to get soaked in the ground.

Her heartbeat quickened, while she moved her hand to keep Emma's head on her chest, covering her eyes in the process. Around her were freshly killed men in the clothes of the paramedics. It was hard to say how many there were, as they were in pieces.

She looked up from the gruesome sight to see the three semes in front of the still unconscious ukes, growling and surrounded by angrily glowing auras. Tails had curled himself into a ball behind Shadow, trembling and whimpering softly. Knuckles was nowhere to be seen and it worried her.

Scythe was up, too, snarling at the bodies, standing in front of her still unconscious friends and the quartet of mobians, that had moved past her before. Ray and the bee were hiding behind the crocodile. He and the chameleon seemed frozen in shock. Just what in the name of Chaos had happened!?

"Th-they wanted to shoot them. They were evil.," Emma in her arm whimpered. "Evil?," the woman repeated numbly, swallowing dryly.

Right...she had never told them about the temple and it wasn't as if they would accidentally find it, this far away from the places, where the semes and ukes currently were.

No, they had been here on purpose. She lowered her glare again and discovered something, that looked like a tranquilizer gun in a puddle of blood. And she knew this weapon. These men had been from the uke institute!

"What happened here!?," she heard Sally gasp behind her. The human woman had apparently reacted far faster than the others had and they had arrived just now.

Kylie didn't hesitate. She turned around, deposited Emma in Kari's arms and then looked at the mobians. "Please go and look after the ukes and semes. There are maybe more impostors.," she told them, pointing into the right direction to both locations.

Immediately, Sally turned serious. "Bunnie, you and I look after the ukes. Antoine, Rotor, look after the semes.," she ordered and they ran off, obviously falling into some kind of routine.

"You two go, too. This isn't a sight for you.," the woman told Kari. "But-" The girl looked insecurely over to where Shy was lying motionlessly on the ground. "It's okay, I promise. They won't hurt her.," Kylie promised. Being unconscious, she was probably the only one they would spare. Kari bit her lip, but nodded and finally turned around to run away.

They were just out of sight, when Kylie felt a sharp sting in her side, that let her flinch and grasp the spot, that continued to hurt, to feel a little blood coating her fingers. She swallowed once more and turned around again to see all three semes with even more flaring auras.

Apparently, she had been spared until now, because she had had Emma with her. No matter, how angry semes were, children were off limits for them. She had accidentally sent away her only protection.

Taking a deep breath, she took a step closer, flinching, when she heard a triple growl. At least Scythe had calmed enough to think clearly again and was watching the whole event unfold, but with her guard noticeably up.

Kylie took another step forward, having to bite her lip hard, when three more small Chaos Spears cut into her arms and her other side. Screaming wouldn't bring her further – it wouldn't help anyone. They saw an enemy right now and if she acted like the men before (one of them must have screamed), she would lose what little trust she still had. So far, they were just warning...painfully warning, but still, warning. Her next steps decided, if they would calm down or eliminate every threat they found, starting with her, Scythe and the crocodile as predators.

Slowly, she let herself down on her knees – in a puddle of blood, she noticed in the back of her mind – and reached for the tranquilizer gun she had discovered before.

Immediately, three spears burned the back of her hand and she had to clench her jaws shut, so she wouldn't cry out. It took all of her willpower to not pull away her hand. _I would rather put up with the nanobots again_ , she thought, while her hand burnt and stung. _Damn, that hurts!_

Before the trio could attack again, she quickly took the weapon and threw it as far away as she could, away from everyone, but mostly from herself.

When she turned back to the three semes, she saw confusion in their faces. Their ears were turning in all directions, showing how overwhelmed they were. They had no way to explain her behavior with their instincts, that were the dominant force right now.

"Listen to me now, okay?," Kylie started, making sure to have all attention on her. "You know, that I would never hurt them. I would do everything to protect you and your mates. You can burn me as much as you want, until you realize, that I just want to help you. Sonic, Silver and Scourge are my friends and they are very precious to me, as are you. All I wish to do is to protect you, do you understand?," she finally asked, after her speech, never even once breaking eye contact or letting insecurity slip in her voice.

She could see it. She could see the exact moment, when the aggression left their beings and got replaced by confusion.

"Man, what happened? Where's that blood coming from?," Fleetway asked, looking down on himself, his light fur highlighting the red splatters.

Shadow and Mephiles did the same, just being able to see a dark fluid on their black furs, before all three quickly turned around to their ukes. They sighed in relief to see them unharmed.

Shadow turned back to Kylie, searching for her glare. "What happened? Who are those?" He pointed to the bodies.

"Some of Perringten's minions, they tried to capture you. You killed all of them, there's no danger anymore.," Kylie explained calmly, soothing their worries before they could get out of hand. She stood up and came closer to them. The semes flinched a little, but most likely just because of the blood scent she was carrying.

"Mephiles, could you do me a favor?," she asked, stopping a bit away from them. "You know, that I will, remember? What do you want?," the dark seme replied.

Kylie told him Sonic's address, even though he had heard it back in the cell already. "Can you bring the six of you there? Those bastards had been dressed as paramedics, I'm afraid, that you'll attack the real ones, too. Just go to the garage, there's a secret passage to an underground house.," she explained, confident, that they would find the way from the garage without more information.

"Wait a second – who hurt you?," Fleetway asked, noticing the shallow wounds and the fresh blood coating her clothes.

"Mephiles, now.," Kylie simply said and the dark being snapped his fingers and the six were gone, leaving just Tails behind, who didn't seem aware of the fact, that everything was over.

"Tails?" Kylie knelt down in front of him and gently touched his shoulder. The fox flinched and whipped around, looking at her with terror in his eyes, before he recognized her.

"K-Kylie...," he whimpered, tears streaming down his face. "What happened?," she asked, rubbing his back soothingly. She could already imagine most of it, but she wanted to know everything. Besides, talking would help him.

"B-Bryan...h-he was h-here...H-he shot Kn-Knuckles...," the fox sobbed, hiding his face in his hands again.

Kylie's eyes widened and she was quick to jump on her feet to look over the edge of the temple – she had just the right size to do this, while standing normally – to see Knuckles lying motionlessly on the ground and Rouge kneeling next to him. The bat noticed her staring, turned her head to her and grinned. "It's nothing serious, he'll just sleep for a while.," she told her.

Kylie sighed in relief and knelt again next to Tails. "It's okay, he's fine. Just asleep.," she soothed. Tails nodded, to show, that he understood, but kept sobbing. Without hesitating, she gently hugged him, letting him cry. He had most likely relived his martyrdom, when he had seen his torturer.

Bryan had probably intended, not aware of his money giver's death, to get back his prisoners, which was, why he had shot Knuckles, and also had tried to get the hedgehogs, so to say, as a bonus. A deadly mistake.

"Shh... It's alright, Tails, he won't ever be able to hurt you again. It's over. You're safe. You and Sonic both." She stood up with the fox on her arms, continuing to rub his back and to whisper soothing words into his ears, while she left the temple and then the island.

Some of the ambulances had already left and new ones replaced them, ready to take the already waiting ukes with them, who didn't have space in the departing vehicles. They were most likely the less serious cases.

It wasn't going well with her, that they were illuminated by a lightning storm because of the photographers. She could see most of the hedgehogs trying to hide in their blankets from the cameras.

Some soldiers held at least the journalists back, but their annoying questions were still audible, screamed over to them. Thankfully, the questions were too jumbled in each other to really make out a word.

Kylie also spotted Lirus, who came towards her, but she made a show of turning away from him and went towards a paramedic. "Excuse me, can you please look at him? His tails are injured.," Kylie asked the panther mobian, who nodded, carefully took off the bandages and examined the appendages, while the woman still held and comforted the fox.

"They seem to be broken in different places, he needs to go to the hospital for a more accurate examination.," he explained finally, after several minutes. "I understand. One moment."

Kylie looked around and spotted Sally and her friends coming towards her. The walrus was carrying Amy on his back, who apparently also got knocked out by a sedative, like Knuckles. She should have known, that they would be after the ukes, too.

Behind the mobians trailed a few more impostors, who looked quite beaten up, burned and seemed rather happy to be arrested, if only to be away from the female mobians.

"How is Tails?," Sally asked, having reached Kylie by now. "He needs to go to the hospital and I'm sure he would love to have a familiar face with him.," the human told her. "Of course.," Sally nodded and Kylie let the fox down.

"But...what about you?," he asked. Kylie smiled sadly at him and was about to answer, when someone cleared his throat behind her.

She turned around to see a young soldier standing there, looking nervous. He had apparently just begun his career. "I-I... er..." Helplessly, he held up a pair of handcuffs, as if this would do the talking for him. In a way, it did.

Kylie sighed. "Give me that.," she grumbled, snatched the object from his hands and proceeded to put them on her own wrists.

Tails crooked a small smile. It was so like Kylie to do everything herself, even to arrest herself...

...Wait.

"K-Kylie...what-?," he stammered. He remembered her saying something like that towards the Commander, back on the Island, but...

Kylie had put the handcuffs on and looked at the little fox with sad eyes. "Tails, even though I helped you, it doesn't change the fact, that I was for three years part of this institution. I'm at fault, too.," she told him.

"B-but you helped to free us! Without you, this would have maybe never ended! You are a hero!," the fox argued, new tears streaming down his face.

Kylie took a deep breath to compose again and then smiled at him as reassuring as she could. "Thank you Tails, this means a lot to me. But it changes not much, I'm afraid. I need to get punished for my crimes. Don't worry, everything will be okay. I'm sure, they won't forget my good deeds. Take care and get well soon, alright?"

With a heavy heart, Tails nodded, accepting the comfort Sally offered him, while the woman straightened herself and walked past the soldier and a Lirus, who looked ready to strangle someone, to a car from GUN.

She saw John and Eggman, both in handcuffs, getting led to another car. While John's whole figure was showing shame and grief, Eggman struggled and cursed loudly, claiming, that he was actually the victim. His robots trailed after him and she could see Bokkun looking around, probably for her, but she was already in the car and driven off, before he could find her.

Only when she was around the corner, away from everyone's glares, she broke down, crying the tears she had held back.

* * *

 _One week later_

"Repeat that!," Commander Towers ordered with clenched jaws. The coroner swallowed and trembled a little.

The Commander was definitely a force of nature, even though he wasn't completely healed yet. He had left the hospital without the doctors' consent and was pretty much running on painkillers now, with a heavily bandaged chest.

The poor coroner, who was much smaller than the Commander, was quick to carry out the order – for the fifth time.

"Sir, the body of Jester Perringten had been mutilated brutally. I counted 26 fractures, in the arms, legs, ribs, skull, face and spine, as well as about 300 shallow cuts all over his body. He had been castrated and his heart and eyes had been taken out. We haven't found neither organ yet. The castration as well as the injuries happened ante-mortem, the extraction of the heart and eyes postmortem. He died from blood loss, because of a deep cut in the throat. There were three cuts in total in this area, but only one was deadly. In neither of the wounds was the slightest trace of who or what caused it detectable.," the man reported. The body had been in the worst condition he had seen so far – but at the same time cleaner than anything he had ever encountered.

Towers growled. "Leave!," he bit out and the coroner fled gladly. The Commander turned around to the three one way windows next to each other to glare at their three occupants, who were unaware of their watcher.

In the first one was 'Agent' Shadow – he had been forced to let the accusation of murder fall, as the same coroner had proven by the angle of the bullet wound in the dead criminal, that it had been fired by someone twice as tall as the hedgehog – sitting on a chair with his arms crossed and a stoic face, not bothered by the table, that had been broken in half in front of him, the second chair sticking in the wall opposite of him and the blood stains on the door and window in the form of hand prints.

In the next room was Fleetway, sitting on a chair, that was only standing on its back legs, leaning against the wall with the backrest. He was looking bored, while he picked his teeth. The table and the other chair were just piles of ash, and blood coated almost the whole floor, walls and ceiling. Even the window was so stained, that he seemed to have orange fur.

The last room was pitch black, except for the pair of poisonous green eyes, glaring unblinkingly at the Commander, as if they could see him.

Towers glared back, cursing the hedgehogs with all of his soul. He had been SO sure, that he could arrest all three of those pests – but there was absolutely no proof!

There wasn't a single picture on the cameras in Perringten's office, after he had threatened them, all devices had 'mysteriously' broken after that (he was pretty convinced, that Mephiles had something to do with that, but again, he had no proof), the body hadn't even the smallest trace of anyone of the trio on it, the extracted body parts were missing, thus not giving a clue of who extracted them, and this wasn't the top of the iceberg: THE WHOLE FREAKING ISLAND WAS GONE, TOO!

This had been the biggest shock. The complete landmass had disappeared over night. He had no idea, how this had happened. A few days after the Island-incident, he had been coherent enough to send men to the place to watch it, until he could personally look through it; so far, only the bodies had been transported off it – and the next day, when he had discharged himself and arrived, where the landmass should have been, he had just encountered the same men he had ordered before, lying unconscious on a wooden board swimming on the sea, with a rock on a rope as an anchor.

No island. No building. Nothing. As if it had copied Angel Island and flown away. Or had sunken to the ground. The divers and helicopters he had sent out afterwards couldn't verify any of those theories. It had vanished in thin air with _tons_ of evidence!

And the soldiers he had left there to guard it? Had fallen unconscious for some unknown reason and seen nothing. _Perfect._

Beyond angrily, he had wanted to at least arrest one of those pesky pests for murder, but without any evidence, he had to hope for an admission.

He should have known, that it wouldn't be this easy. He should have guessed, that getting those three here by using Agent Rouge as the deliverer of the message to reach them, would be the easiest part.

But he had thought, that it would be, after reading the letter from Dr. Ellen. The troublesome woman couldn't even shut up in jail! She had apparently written a long letter to some of her precious mobian friends, if the first line _Please give that part to the Commander, should you see him_ , on the letter for him was anything to go by.

Shadow had literally thrown the piece of paper at his feet, because he knew, that he couldn't bend down without ripping out the stitches and that he had to order a passing-by employee to give him the paper.

In the letter, Dr. Ellen had asked him to go easy on the trio, should he ever think about an interrogation, because they stood under stress, she had warned him to drive them in a corner, to keep them longer than a few hours and, most of all, to try and threaten the semes' mates to get them to talk. She had underlined the last part several times, written the letters in bold to get the message across.

He hadn't listened. He had thought, that she had tried to protect her friends and therefore done the opposite. Because of this decision, he had ordered his men to tell the three, that they would find and interrogate their mates for days, if they didn't talk.

Mephiles had snapped at that and turned the room into a black abyss and three of his best employees' minds had disappeared in it forever, leaving them as empty shells.

He should have stopped at that, but his stubbornness – and desperation – had been too great, that's why he had forced his men to heighten the pressure by threatening their mates' lives. Which was the reason, why red was currently the most prominent color in the other two rooms. They hadn't killed them, but injured gravely and some had needed a surgery.

As he was alone right now, Towers allowed himself a small moment of weakness and he leaned his forehead against the cool surface of one of the windows.

This couldn't get worse. He had lost about 800 men and two dozens highly expensive military submarines to Perringten's beast, this Dr. Ellen had treated him like an unruly child (and there were plenty of witnesses of this humiliation, too), someone had told the President about his secret collecting of specially skilled mobians for military purposes (and some other less than legal actions), he had lost a whole island and to top it off, he couldn't even prove one single murder to the three most hated hedgehogs he knew (in his opinion)!

There had to have been more bodies, than just Perringten's, judging by all the blood in the hallway, that some soldiers had written of in their reports, but not a single bit of flesh had been left (again, it had been probably Mephiles) and all possibly uncovered evidence had left with the landmass to who knew where. The only other corpses, that had been brought off the Island (and hadn't been killed by the nanobots) had been victims of Scythe, a wanted, highly dangerous murderer. And she had escaped with her strange friends, right under his nose! As if he didn't have enough problems already!

To make it even worse, those three hedgehogs had injured several men during the interrogation – and they couldn't be made responsible for it, as the laws said strictly, that injuries done on instinct weren't to be punished, especially if there was a good reason. Like driving them into a corner. As the men did. Following HIS order.

This had been the last straw. His time of being a Commander was over. He straightened again and stepped back enough to glare at the three mobians again.

 _They had won_.

* * *

"We're back!," Shadow called loudly, once the elevator had opened its doors to the secret house. He had quickly learned, that the mobians, who called themselves 'Freedom Fighters' and who claimed to be Sonic's friends, were a distrusting bunch, if one of their own was injured and 'sneaking around' wasn't a good idea, unless you wanted a sword, laser or who knew what on your throat.

It was easier to just make your presence known so they felt at ease. Well, as much at ease as they could be, after they had witnessed the consequences of the murder of the humans on Angel Island. Until now, Shadow had no idea, why the Commander's henchmen hadn't asked them about it earlier. Well, it wasn't exactly his problem.

Fleetway pushed past him, once they were out of the and rushed down the hallway, almost running over Tails, who just came out of the kitchen. "How was it?," he asked, while coming closer. The little wheels, that were connected with iron rings around his tails in splints, were squeaking silently, while they followed his movement. Rotor had built him this construction, so that he could move almost freely – he needed to be careful, when he went around corners or in the elevator, as his tails were currently unmovable.

"Waste of time.," Shadow explained with a shake of his head. Tails just nodded. "Are there any news?," the agent asked and frowned, when Tails' ears drooped and he shook his head as well. Of course, he had asked about Sonic, but apparently, he was still asleep. Scourge and Silver were already awake, but still recovering.

In that moment, Fleetway came back running. "Where's Scourge!?," he panted, seeming close to a panic attack. "Outside, in our back garden. He wanted some fresh air, Amy and Sally brought him out.," Tails explained in a 'Had you waited for five seconds, I would have told you that'-tone. Fleetway sighed in relief and scurried back in the elevator.

"Any change with Silver?," Mephiles asked. The only reason he had left him alone, even though he wasn't fit yet, was to prevent GUN from breaking in and possibly hurt him. Thankfully, there was Blaze with him, otherwise he would have gone crazy with worry. He _did_ go crazy back there, true...but not with worry.

"He has finally developed an appetite. I prepared a soup, it just got ready. I'm sure, that he would love to eat with you and Blaze. Plates are in the cupboard next to the door and I put already out three spoons, they're on the table. You'll find a tray behind the kitchen door.," Tails explained. "Thank you very much.," Mephiles replied with a deep bow and went in the kitchen.

Shadow watched him, suspicion clear on his face. He knew, how dangerous the dark being could become. Especially now, since Sonic was down and his brother and friends were so unsuspecting, he rather didn't let his guard down.

"...ow? Shadow!," the fox' voice snapped him out of his thought. "Y-yes?," he asked, shaking his head to focus. "Here.," Tails held out four familiar golden rings to him. Shadow's eyes widened and he took them to examine them. It were truly his rings, carefully restored. He could see, where they had cracked, but it would be invisible for eyes worse than his – so for every other pair of eyes there was.

Carefully, he exchanged the metal rings with his own, feeling, that they worked flawlessly. "Thank you.," he thanked him with a bow.

Tails blushed. "No problem. Sorry for the wait, it took me a while to figure out, how they work and to restore their function. Oh, by the way, is it okay for you to stay with Sonic for the next few hours? Rotor brings me to Angel Island, Knuckles found some herbs, that might help my tails.," the young mobian replied.

He was, as Shadow had noticed, like Sonic naturally impatient and didn't want to wait for six weeks to recover. He had splints and not plasters by his own wish, just for these healing herbs. The dark hedgehog made a mental note to prepare himself for the same behavior with Sonic, should he get injured (not, that he planned to let this happen!). "Yes, of course. Good luck with that.," Shadow answered and they parted ways.

While going to Sonic's room – Silver and Scourge had their own rooms, that were meant for guests anyway – Shadow wondered, when Sonic would wake up...and how this waking up would look like. As they had found out the hard way, Healing slumber went with a row of side effects.

Scourge had woken up five days ago and, as he had been alone to this time, fallen out of bed, because he had been unable to realize how close to the edge he had been. And on the floor, he had been searching with his fingers, mapping out the room this way – because he couldn't see it. He had been blind. To make it worse for him, his hearing and smelling had been cut off, too.

The semes, who had to lock Fleetway in a broom closet so he wouldn't scare the helpless, terrified uke with his blunt behavior, were worried, that their own mates could become this, too and, that it might be permanent.

But thankfully, Kylie couldn't even be stopped in jail. She had sent them a long letter, that arrived shortly after the green furred uke had woken up and in that she had listed in detail all possible side effects to Healing slumber, divided for semes and ukes. Semes had far less side effects than ukes – just a shortened sleep and a strong aggression after waking up.

Shadow and the other two had only slept for about three hours, which hadn't healed them as much as they needed and which was a normal side effect, considering, that they had mates, who would need protection. They would be able to rest more later, when they deemed their ukes safe, awake and happy. Until then, they couldn't fall asleep easily, if at all. Which was actually the reason for their aggression, but so far, they had managed to stay civil in the house.

According to Kylie's letter, the temporary loss of some or all senses was a side effect ukes might experience and it lasted for about 24 hours. As Scourge had been blind and deaf, Tails, who was the only one, who could get close to Scourge without scaring him (Shadow guessed, that he felt somehow, that he was weaker than him, unlike the rest of them) had written with his fingertip on his palm, explaining everything. He hadn't want Fleetway close to him, until his senses had returned and he was still not fond of having him close to himself. However, this was probably normal, considering what happened on the Island. Fleetway still tried to be close to him.

Silver had even been worse. He had needed about 26 hours longer than Scourge to wake up and when he had opened his eyes, he had screamed upon seeing Mephiles and hidden himself in a shocked Blaze's arms. All tries of the dark being to calm his love down had failed and in the end, as working himself up hadn't been good for his fragile health, he had left to let Blaze soothe him and to let her figure out, what happened.

What she had found out, had been devastating for Mephiles. Silver didn't remember anything, that had happened on the Island and, as a consequence, nothing of him.

According to Kylie, this was a rather normal side effect, especially in a situation like this. She had already predicted, that at least one of the trio would have a memory loss concerning the Island, locking away the terrifying truth. The good thing: it wasn't permanent. The bad thing: it could last for weeks, maybe even months. Until now, Silver knew Mephiles as a 'good friend of Blaze'.

Shadow still remembered, how the former villain had begged the cat on his knees to pretend to be friends, until Silver's memory had returned. It had been strange to see the usually heartless being this desperate.

Blaze, who mainly acted upon her instincts, had agreed, but told Mephiles, that she would immediately interfere, should he do something inappropriate. Her worries had no reason, as she soon saw. Silver and Mephiles were now already closer, than friends could be, it was clear, that the younger hedgehog was crushing on the older. Blaze didn't leave them alone yet, but so far, Mephiles had done nothing to provoke her protective instincts.

Shadow hoped, that Sonic wouldn't be the same. It would be understandable, after all he had been through the most of the three, maybe of all of the hedgehogs, but he was sure, that he would be destroyed beyond repair, if Sonic wouldn't recognize him for who knew how long.

Going mentally through Kylie's list – he had learned it by heart, just in case – he decided, that a temporary itch all over the body or a temporary paralysis of certain limbs would be the best side effects, if he would have one. At least he would remember Shadow and could be calmed down by him.

Finally reaching Sonic's room, he mentally prepared himself for hours of stupid sitting around and frequent, even stupider, panic attacks, that let him check Sonic's breathing in fear it had stopped, and opened the door. Immediately, his heart beat harder upon what he saw.

* * *

Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinking them lazily. Above him was a simple white ceiling, that was gray due to the twilight in the room. He frowned in confusion, trying to remember what happened. For some reason, he found a memory of himself fighting some strange hedgehog, but...it seemed so distant and blurry, as if it was a dream... Maybe it was? But if so, then... they were still in Perringten's clutches!

At once, he sat up, looking around. His heart did a painful beat upon seeing his surroundings.

This was _his_ room. His bed with the light blue sheets, his nightstand, his favorite books, next to the framed pictures of him and his friends on the shelf on his left, with other frames on his dresser opposite of him, next to the door. His guitar, leaning next to the small table with his CD-player against the wall on his right. The bin in the far right corner, that he used for his dirty socks and gloves. The posters, medals, newspaper articles and commendations for his heroic doings on the walls with the blue and white striped wallpapers. They were all there, like he had pinned them on.

How? How did Perringten know, how his room looked, maybe his whole house even? How did he even know, how to find the underground house, where they kept their important, personal stuff? And why was he doing this anyway? Why was he going to these extremes? To lure him into a sense of security, as the cell with cushions hadn't worked? No. He wouldn't fall for it, not even for a second.

Even though his body felt numb and weak, he forced himself out of bed, but he had to grab the nightstand to not collapse. Panting, he waited for his body to get used to standing. He would break out, look for Silver, Scourge and Shadow and then get them all to safety. Somehow.

His ears flew up, when he heard the door knob turn. Did someone unlock the door, while he hadn't listened!? He pushed himself off the nightstand and, as quickly as he could, stumbled to the end of the bed, grabbing the wooden board there for support, trying to ready himself for an attack on him.

His system was flooded with warm relief, though, upon seeing the person behind the door, who stared at him with wide eyes. "Shadow.," he rasped out and, as he had used up all of his feeble strength, collapsed into strong arms.

* * *

Shadow would never be able to describe, how relieved he had felt, when he had opened the door and seen Sonic awake, still weak, but up and looking at him. The relief was cut short, though, when the blue hero whispered his name and collapsed.

In the last moment, Shadow managed to dash to him and to catch him, taking him on his arms. "Sonic, what are you doing?," he asked gently.

The blue hedgehog panted a little to regain his breath and then opened his weary green eyes. "W-where are Scourge and Silver? We need to leave!," he whispered, determination and fear written all over his face.

Shadow raised a brow. "Leave? What are you talking about?," he asked, confused. "Th-this just looks like my room, it's a trick...from Perringten...It's not real..."

While he rambled on, Shadow racked his brain to try and remember, what had been written on Kylie's list. He needed to find out, what had gotten into him.

He cursed the woman with all of his might, when he remembered, that she had actually written him a separate letter, like the Commander, and warned him, that this particular side effect could appear with Sonic. He officially hated it now, when she was right.

Sonic suffered from a very bad case of 'false reality', paired with paranoia. He remembered very well, what had happened, but his brain had trouble with believing it to be true – after the rather fantastic battle, he could understand this, and Kylie most likely, too, which was, why she had predicted this situation – and made up another explanation for him being in this condition and in this environment. And this explanation had caused paranoia.

He was convinced, that the battle had been just imagination, a hallucination or a dream, that Perringten had had something to do with this and, that the human was still alive and watching them right now.

Shadow sighed soundlessly. Well, it could have been worse. He remembered him at least – and he actually knew, how to end this quickly.

Carefully, he moved closer to the bed and set Sonic on the mattress. "W-what are you doing!? We need to flee!," Sonic protested, trying to stand up, but Shadow came so close to him, that he couldn't succeed without pushing him away.

Gently, he put a hand under the hedgehog's chin and pushed it up, so that their eyes met. "Sonic, I love you.," he told him, his voice full of emotion. The green eyes staring in his widened and for a few minutes, he was completely silent, trying to get his thoughts into order.

Shadow waited patiently, feeling, that his love was remembering right now and he was giving him all the time in the world for that. "B-but I thought...," Sonic finally started, still confused. "True, I didn't want to say it so far, because I didn't want to taint our love in this place, but I need you to understand, that we are safe now. This is REALLY your room in your home and Perringten is dead, he can't do anything to you anymore.," Shadow told him.

Sonic looked at him, weighing his words. Was this true? Or wasn't this his Shadow, just someone Perringten sent to trick him? Growling because of the headache he started to feel and the untypical mistrust he suddenly felt, he grabbed the surprised Shadow's arm and pulled him so close, that his forehead touched the other's chest. He could feel, that Shadow was nervous, but most likely just because he wasn't sure, what he was doing and what he planned to do next.

Sonic just remained there, listening to Shadow's heartbeat, inhaling his scent, relishing in his warmth. There was no doubt, that was _his_ Shadow. So what he had said, was true. It was over.

He felt his eyes water at the thought and quickly wiped at them. He had shown enough weakness for a lifetime.

Gentle fingers helped to wipe his tears. Shadow had obviously noticed, that he was allowed to move again and was now kneeling in front of him, smiling sadly up to him and wiping away his tears, that kept coming. "It's okay, just let it out. You deserve it.," he soothed and continued to comfort him, while Sonic allowed himself to cry, relieving himself of all the stress, fear and desperation of the last weeks, that flowed out of him with his tears. He hugged Shadow tightly, making sure, that he wouldn't leave him. He was still worried about everyone, but right now, he needed to know, that Shadow was there.

After a few minutes, he had calmed down and Shadow, who had noticed, how tired he still was, moved them to lie down, without breaking the hug, and covered them up. He decided, that Sonic could eat later, after some more rest.

"Where's Tails?," the hero asked tiredly, he wouldn't be able to get calm enough to sleep without hearing about his friends, starting with his brother. "On Angel Island, he tries to heal his tails faster.," Shadow replied. Sonic frowned, trying to remember, what was wrong with his tails. His eyes widened, when the memory returned. "Will he recover completely?," he asked worriedly.

"Yes, he will." Shadow was convinced, that, after the tons of raw Chaos Energy, that had rained down on them after the fight, everyone would recover – and that quicker than normal.

Sonic sighed in relief. "What about Silver and Scourge?," he asked further. "They are fine, they just need to rest a little.," Shadow reassured him. He would tell him everything later, when he was better.

"And Knux? Mighty? Amy? And Mighty's friends? The girl, who helped me? And Kylie?" Shadow asked himself, how one being could be this sweet? He wasn't feeling well, was almost unconscious from exhaustion – and still caring about everyone else. He felt his heart swell with pride and kissed his forehead. "They are fine, don't worry. But let's talk later about this, you should try and rest some more. I'll stay with you and be here, when you wake up, okay?"

The blue hedgehog nodded and snuggled closer, his eyes falling shut. "Thank you, Shadow. And...And I love you, too.," he whispered with a little blush on his face, trying the words on his tongue, that let his stomach flutter, before giving in to sleep.

Shadow looked down on his uke and smiled. He was lucky, he realized. He had a beautiful, strong and loving mate – the thought alone of having a mate let him blush – and he was his. He belonged to him and he would never let him go. A sudden rush of possessiveness let him draw the younger hedgehog closer, but he quickly stopped, when the blue quills raised defensively.

Okay, he had his limits. He accepted that. Carefully, he loosened his grip, until the quills relaxed again. Sighing in relief, Shadow enjoyed the closeness, feeling his eyes droop.

Now he understood, what Kylie had meant – he started to feel genuinely tired for the first time, since they had arrived here. Not fighting the urge any longer, he just joined his mate in dreamland.

* * *

Carefully, Mephiles balanced the tray with three plates on it on one hand and opened the door with the other one. It would have been easier to use his tentacles for that, but he had quickly learned, that Silver was crept out by his powers. He would most likely trust him easier, if he could remember everything, but as it was now, he only saw a stranger with dark abilities – and he didn't want to destroy the fragile bond they had formed – therefore, the powers needed to pause a bit.

Once the door was opened, the tray started to glow in a turquoise light, got lifted up and hovered over to Silver, who sat upright in bed. The tray landed on his lap and he giggled, proud of himself. Since the dark seme had been qualified as a friend by Blaze, Silver loved to show off his powers, when Mephiles was around.

"Very impressive.," the seme praised and the younger hedgehog blushed in joy. He wasn't used to compliments, especially not in the past he remembered and therefore enjoyed every single one he got from Mephiles.

Silver smiled and with a wave of his hand, one plate lifted up to fly into Blaze's hands, while another found his way into Mephiles'. "Thank you.," they both thanked him and Mephiles sat himself on his chair opposite of Blaze's side.

"Thank you!," Silver echoed, but meaning no one in particular, he was just thankful for three meals a day, which had been, according to his current memory, absolutely impossible to achieve so far. Happily he ate, but slowly, to savor the taste.

Until now, he hadn't eaten anything and only drunken very small amounts of water, because he hadn't been aware of the fact, that he had eaten for a while now regularly and gained weight. He had thought, that he couldn't stomach anything at all – past experiences on the streets had taught him this lesson. But he had apparently learned to listen to his body's needs finally and wanted now food.

"So, 'playing', huh?," Mephiles asked towards Blaze, knowing, that Silver wouldn't pay attention to anything they talked about, until the last drop of soup was gone – he had done the same with the water before, that's how the dark seme knew.

"How else was I supposed to call it?," the cat shrugged, sipping the soup from her spoon. "I knew from the moment I saw Silver moving a trashcan off another mobian after a fight, that others would want his powers. There are horrifying stories on the streets about crazy scientists stealing mobians and experimenting on them. I was always so afraid for Silver, especially, since he was always sick, that's why I didn't want him to use these powers, not even to talk about them. If he wanted to say something about them, we called it 'playing'. He had never before moved a person, I've just...hoped, that it would work.," she added, obviously thinking about what would have happened to Sonic, if Silver hadn't succeeded.

"Mephy, you didn't eat!," Silver suddenly said. The dark seme snapped his head over to him. "Oh...," he looked down and at his full plate. "I'm sorry, I was too deep in thought, I guess.," the male explained.

Silver giggled, "Silly!", before the spoon in Mephiles' plate moved itself up and towards the seme's mouth. The dark being raised a brow, but allowed the young uke to feed him this way. It was an innocent action, a mere game for him, with no romantic afterthought, but Mephiles enjoyed it either way, imagining, that it was Silver doing this without his powers.

Blaze watched the interaction with narrowed eyes. She had promised herself to never let Silver close to anybody, but her. But seeing those two interact, warmed her heart. She had always wished for someone to love him, not because of his beauty, or just to have someone to sleep with, but someone, who truly loved his character, as well as his appearance – that hadn't been the best lately, due to the illness and their...life style. And he had found such a someone.

She hadn't trusted Mephiles for even a second, always having her guard up, always awaiting some kind of sign, that he was simply lusting after him. But he had showed nothing but honest worry for as long as he had stayed unconscious. And when he had woken up, the seme had still showed no ill intentions. He could have simply filled Silver's mind with lies to form his fragile mind to his liking, forced stories of their past on him to get him to remember, or gotten angry, because he didn't remember him, but instead, he had begged her to declare him a friend towards the silver hedgehog. Confused, she had done so, always keeping in mind, that people were quickly considered friends or enemies in Silver's mind, if she said so. But again, Mephiles had surprised her by just acting like a new friend, allowing Silver to get to know him, never once trying to pressure him into remembering or getting physical. He had proven nothing, but good intentions.

Smiling to herself, Blaze stood up. Immediately, Silver looked to her, which was a habit, the spoon with the last bit of soup remaining in midair. "Where are you going?," he asked out of mere curiosity. "Just to the bathroom. I'll be right back." "Shouldn't you take Mephy with you?," Silver wondered.

So far, Blaze had insisted, that Mephiles left the room with her, so he would never be alone with him. That also meant, that he 'accompanied' her to the bathroom – in reality, he just waited next to the door of Silver's room, until she returned. Neither of them told Silver the real reason for their leaving together and he most certainly didn't have an explanation for this, either. It was simply, what he was used to.

To Mephiles' surprise, today was different – and not only, because Silver wanted to eat now. "No.," the cat answered, ignoring Mephiles' astounded face. "I don't think, that's necessary. It'll be only a few minutes anyway.," she explained and left the room. Mephiles looked after her, a strange feeling in his chest. He felt...accepted? It was hard to tell, as he had never before felt like that.

"...phy? Mephy?," Silver's voice asked, ripping him out of his thoughts and let him turn around to him.

"Yes?," he replied. "Are you okay? You look so...deep in thought!," the younger male explained, feeding the last bit of soup to him and returning the spoon to the plate.

"I do? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.," Mephiles apologized. "It's okay, Blaze says, that if you need to think, then you should do it, because that's important!," the uke grinned. "I see, thank you for sharing this with me.," Mephiles smiled. Silver blushed adorably. Just why did he have to be so cute?

"M-Mephy...may I ask something?" The sudden change in his tone let Mephiles frown. "Of course, whenever you like.," he reassured.

"It's just...Blaze tells me very often, that she loves me and I always thought, that I understand, but...since I met you, I always feel also love for you, but...not like for Blaze...does it make sense?," Silver rambled, sounding helpless.

"It does.," Mephiles told him gently, taking his hand, that had started to fiddle with the blanket. He was beyond happy to hear that. He had noticed, that Silver was staring at him, at times even secretly and had always hoped, that it meant some kind of attraction – but love already!? He could so hug and crush Silver now! But he shouldn't. He needed to stay patient, until 'his' Silver was back.

"I like you, too, very much. But let's not rush, okay? First, you should get better.," he said calmly. Silver nodded. "I'm sorry for being sick for so long. Blaze went through a lot because of me, didn't she?," he sighed, his ears pressed to his skull.

Even though he had been out of it and feverish the whole time he had been sick – Blaze had told Mephiles more about their past, while Silver had slept – he had apparently noticed a lot still. "This wasn't your fault. You can make it up to your sister by getting well soon.," Mephiles soothed.

Silver nodded. "I'm pretty sleepy now. Mephy, c-could you lie with me, please?," he almost begged, blushing shyly.

"If it's alright with you, of course.," the seme replied, sounding far more cool, than he was. Inside, he was doing back flips of happiness.

The silver furred hedgehog beamed and quickly slid to the side, almost falling off the side of the bed in his hurry to make some room next to him. Mephiles chuckled and quickly caught the tray with the plates, that he threw off his lap with the quick movements, before it could fall to the ground. He placed it on the nightstand and slipped in next to Silver.

The uke lay on his side, smiled at him and closed his eyes, falling asleep. He hadn't tried to get closer, but it was enough for Mephiles. He stretched out his hand and gently stroke the soft fur on his cheek. It was the first time, that he touched him, since he had woken up without his memory and it meant so much to him. He felt so comfortable, as if he was engulfed by his mate's scent and it helped him to relax for the first time in days. He pulled his hand back, his fingertips still tingling from the feeling of Silver on them, and fell asleep easily, for once acting like a mortal. He could get used to this 'sleeping'.

Blaze, who had watched the exchange through the ajar door, smiled and closed it completely. She had finally the feeling, that Silver was in great hands.

* * *

Scourge sighed in bliss, while he allowed the sunlight to warm his fur. He sat on a simple wooden bench in the middle of an untamed garden.

The two girls, who had brought him out, had been going on his nerves with their chattering about girl-stuff and he had chased them away with a rude remark. He smirked upon the memory of their shocked faces. He still got it.

His smirk vanished again and he looked up, frowning now, while he blinked in the sun. The last time he had really seen it, he had been on Paradise. He remembered wishing upon it, as if it had been a star, to free him. Who would have thought, that he should have wished upon Blue. Without him...

He shook his head, rubbing his eyes, that started to sting with tears. No. The time for tears was over. He wouldn't shed another, not for as long as he lived.

His ears twitched upon hearing a door rattle and muffled curses. Sighing, he slid to the right end of the bench and turned his head away from where the door was.

A minute later, the door opened and Fleetway came out, muttering under his breath. Scourge hid a grin. He had probably gone lost again and then, in his haste, forgotten how a door worked.

Fleetway came closer and Scourge could see him in the corner of his eyes, freezing in his step, without a doubt, because he saw him. The green uke felt his heartbeat quicken with fear and he asked himself, if they would forever act like this around each other. He didn't like it at all.

Awkwardly, Fleetway came closer and let himself plop on the other side of the bench, leaving so much space between them, that they couldn't touch, unless they both reached out.

"I...er...h-how are you?," the seme asked, almost shyly. "Good, so far. Still a little on the weak side, but I'm getting better. As long as I don't move, I'm fine. Remind me to never fall into this 'Healing slumber'-thing again.," Scourge shrugged, playing down how exhausted he really was. He could just fall asleep then and there.

"I see...," Fleetway replied distractedly, playing nervously with his claws. Since days he was fighting the urge to hug Scourge close and the worst part was, that said uke was noticing it – which was why he was sent away almost instantly each day. And he couldn't just ignore his request – one small scream and a Freedom Fighter, Shadow or Mephiles were there to pull him out and to lock him in the surprisingly resistant broom closet.

They were silent for a while, before the light seme spoke again. "So...what next?," he asked insecurely.

"Next? Well, staying here, until sunset and then-" "No. I mean, what after you recover?," Fleetway paraphrased. Could they return to their daily criminal life after everything?

"Oh, that." Scourge shrugged. "I guess, you'll go and make sure, that the gang is still on top.," he answered.

Fleetway raised a brow. " _I_ 'll go and make sure, that our gang is still on top?," he repeated, confused. "What about you?," he asked. Scourge shrugged again. "Don't know. I think, I'll just see, where I will land." "You'll leave the city!?," Fleetway asked, alarmed. "Maybe even the country. As I said, I don't know."

Fleetway stared at the uke's profile, his jaw dropped open. "It's my fault, isn't it? You flee, after all I did to you.," he finally said, staring down on his knees.

Scourge looked at him in surprise. Was this, what he thought? Did he really think, that he was THAT weak!? He balled his fists, ready to hit him good, but he thought better and just took a deep breath.

Silence reigned again, until he had recovered. Smirking, he then leaned back and put his hands on his relaxed head quills.

"Don't underestimate me. I'm not a weakling. That's already in the past. No big deal.," he explained.

Fleetway quickly turned around to him and was surprised to see nothing, but truth in his half lidded eyes, that stared at the sun. It really wasn't a problem anymore...

But...

There was something else twinkling in these sapphire orbs and he knew, that it was bothering Scourge. "What is wrong?," he slowly asked.

Scourge stiffened, his eyes widened and he quickly looked away, trying and failing to regain his posture. He should have known, that Fleetway would look through his facade, but he had thought, that he would simply ignore it, like always, when something was bothering him. Apparently, he was more attentive, since everything, that had happened on the Island... "N-nothing.," he stammered. "Yeah. Right. Come on, you know, that I know you better. What is your problem?," Fleetway pried.

Scourge rubbed his forehead. He also knew Fleetway and, that he wouldn't give up. "I just...need some space, okay?," he mumbled, unable to look in his eyes. "Space? Space from what? Me?," Fleetway asked impatiently.

"No! Yes... I...I don't know..." Scourge stumbled over his own tongue. He sighed and ran a hand through his quills. "It's all so complicated.," he finished.

Fleetway narrowed his eyes, his gears working. "It's us, isn't it?," he asked after a minute, making Scourge flinch at the tone and at the words. "U-Us?," he repeated, stuttering.

"Of course, us! You can't deny, that there is something between us!," Fleetway exclaimed, jumping up.

Scourge stared up at him and then turned away, his fists shaking on his knees. "There is no 'us'.," he stated simply.

"Of course there is! We were partners, remember? Why can't we be more now? Like Blue and this silver hedgehog with the other two?," Fleetway growled, towering over Scourge and coming uncomfortably close.

The uke bit his lip. Was it about that? He wasn't sure... But to compare them with Sonic and Silver stroke a nerve.

He balled his fist and punched the seme in the gut as hard as he could. The attack hit the other male completely unprepared and he fell on his bottom, staring at the slightly younger hedgehog in shock.

"Stop it, right. Now. I already told you, that there is no 'us'! The 'feelings' you think there are – there aren't any! And don't you _dare_ comparing the two of 'us' with Blue and Silver! _They_ didn't know a thing about their semes – how am I supposed to like you, after the past we shared!?," Scourge screamed at him at the top of his lungs. There was so, so much he wanted to tell him, too, but...it refused to come out.

Fleetway looked hurt for a bit, before glaring angrily, still from his position on the ground. "If I'm this bad, why did you never tell me? We were partners for- what? Ten years? Eleven? We grew up together, fought together, won together! We even were in jail together, protecting each other! And NOW, when you start to feel something for me – and don't _you_ dare denying it! – you come with this crap!? No. No, I won't buy it for one freaking second! We won't leave here, until we have figured this out, got it?!," he stated, matter-of-factually, as if it was a law.

Scourge growled, baring his teeth, before he suddenly lunged at Fleetway, throwing him to the ground and attacking him with his fists, hitting every inch he could reach.

Fleetway was usually not someone to just take an attack. He fought against everyone, who dared to even stare at him funny, let alone hit or kick him. But while the fists rained down on him, his instincts refused to react to the attack. He just lay there, motionlessly, letting Scourge use him like a punching bag, even though the hits in his face hurt. Thankfully, the green furred hedgehog was still a little weak and his punches not as strong as usual. Besides, the light furred male had always healed quicker than others.

Several minutes passed, in that you only heard some birds sing and the sound of fists meeting flesh, before Scourge finally stopped, his fists resting on Fleetway's chest. He was sitting on his hips and panting in exhaustion, sweat dripping from the tip of his nose and running through his fur. It would look rather...strange for others, but no one of the duo payed any attention to this.

"You want to know?," Scourge panted, a shadow over his head preventing Fleetway from seeing his eyes. "You want to know, why I want to leave?"

At once, he let his head fall onto his fists, hiding his face completely. "I can't figure this out!," he growled. "I know, that there is _something_ , but I don't know, what! I need space, I need to be alone to get to terms with myself. I want you to stay and to make sure...that there is something to return to... someone...who...waits for me...," he finished with a trembling voice, obviously fighting the tears.

Fleetway stared at the bunch of green quills, speechless. Never before, not even after his rape, had Scourge appeared this vulnerable. He had opened a piece of his soul to him, he realized, and for once, he had the feeling to know this guy on him better than all these years before.

He remembered Kylie's lesson about relationships and carefully lifted his arm to wind it around Scourge's back. The uke stiffened, but Fleetway didn't try anything, he just let the limb lie there, allowing Scourge to learn, that the touch meant no harm to him. Gradually, the younger hedgehog recovered and took deep, calming breaths, accepting the contact. Patience, Fleetway reminded himself, even though it wasn't his forte at all. But for Scourge...he would move mountains and show patience.

"Okay.," the seme finally spoke and Scourge's ears jerked in surprise. "It's okay, I understand. Go, I will stay and wait for you – and if it's for forty years." Scourge chuckled. "I don't plan to stay away this long, don't worry.," he mumbled, tiredness seeping into his voice. "Fried, huh?," Fleetway asked, chuckling himself. The uke just nodded, before pretty much curling up on the seme's lap, still hiding his face to not show any kind of weakness. He had shown enough of that on the Island and Fleetway knew, that he was far too proud to let him see any more of this.

Soon, he had gotten comfortable and fell silent. Fleetway just held still, letting him rest, enjoying the moment. They wouldn't have much more moments like this one. And he would cherish each one of them.

"Say..." Scourge's voice let him jump out of his thoughts. He had thought, that he was asleep already! "...I'm not heavy, am I?"

"O-of course not!," Fleetway quickly said. To be precise, the green hedgehog was lighter than he remembered him to be before the Island.

"Good." Scourge shifted a little. "Where do you sleep, by the way?" So far, he had spent most of his days and the nights alone, that's why he wondered. "Oh. Er... Well...in the living room." On the carpet of the living room, to be precise, as the Freedom Fighters had so far occupied the suitable furniture. There were some more unoccupied guestrooms, but Tails and Sonic had never found the time to furnish them, yet. And nobody really had the heart to do this now, while Sonic was still out. Thus, he had had always just the floor as a bed.

"I see..." Scourge shifted again, seemingly uncomfortable. "W-well, my bed isn't this big, but...the carpet is rather soft...so if you like...you can...sleep there...," Scourge reluctantly suggested.

Fleetway felt his heart leaping over the moon with joy and he had to stop his body from doing the same, so he wouldn't disturb the uke – in both ways, physically and mentally.

"S-sure, I could do that.," he replied indifferently, but also happily. Scourge tried to get used to him again! He couldn't be happier. "Great.," the green hedgehog mumbled sleepily and started to snore, leaving Mobius' luckiest hedgehog under him, awake and grinning from one ear to the other.

When Amy and Sally, mentally prepared for more rudeness, returned twenty minutes later, they couldn't help but coo at the two sleeping hedgehogs in the garden. They spent the rest of the day and the night there, together like that, covered with a blanket, that said girls had brought them. And if you looked close enough, you could see truly happy smiles on their relaxed faces, that they would never show each other...yet.

* * *

Alright, one more chapter to go! I already started it and I'm optimistic, that it will be up next Sunday...I hope. As I'm with my family right now, I can never predict anything, I'm afraid. But you know, that I'll hurry!

Anyway, have a nice weekend! Bye!


	21. Epilogue

As promised, here is the last chapter! Please enjoy - and read the informations under it, too! Thanks!

* * *

 **Epilogue**

 _3 months later_

"Alright, everybody ready?," Tails asked, hovering over the white line, that marked start and finish. His tails had healed completely and he had been shortly after already been able to do everything he was used to – including flying.

The last few months had been hard. Not physically, but emotionally. After recovering his body, the guilt had been overwhelming. It had been all his fault, he had been, for a while, convinced of that. He had, after all, agreed, that Bryan took Sonic in the first place. He felt, as if he had almost dug his brother's grave.

It took a lot of talking with and staying close to Sonic and helping him recover from the whole ordeal for him to forgive himself. He swore to himself, that he would be much more careful with everything he would learn in the future, especially, if it had something to do with Sonic or his friends.

"Ready as I'll ever be!," Sonic declared, taking his position at the line, next to Shadow and Silver.

The last few months had been hell. There was nothing worse than recovering in the blue hedgehog's opinion. Besides the nightmares, that had kept haunting him, it had taken him agonizingly long to get back into top shape. Gaining weight had been the easiest, getting his speed, strength and stamina back, had been more difficult. All the drugs he had been forced to take, had done some damage to his body. At first, he had been barely able to run for a minute at a mobian pace without being out of breath. Slowly (far, far too slow for his liking) but surely and with the help of everyone, he had returned to his normal self, physically and mentally. Was he truly back to normal now? Only one way to find out, with a good old race! Besides, he had always wanted to know, who was faster – he, or Shadow?

Said dark hedgehog just grunted as an answer to Tails' question, his shoes powering up, while the three hedgehogs crouched low at the start line.

The last few months had been intense. Helping Sonic had been his priority for the longest time: holding him in his sleep, waking him up, if the nightmares became too bad (usually, his presence kept them away, but sometimes, it wasn't enough), feeding him, monitoring his diet, making sure, that he ate, when he could eat on his own, supervising his physical recovery, keeping him informed, getting the people and things he wanted, as long as he was stuck in bed, making sure, that he slept, drunk and ate enough and so on.

During this time, he had noticed...that he had strange, rather bipolar feelings towards Sonic. One part of him was just happy to see him getting better, to see him happily interact with his friends, admiring the number of friends he had, listening to his stories, watching his progress in recovery with adoration of his strength and unbeatable will.

Another part of him, however, didn't want him to recover. This part wanted him in his room, in his arms, forever, never seeing anyone but him, never going out, never leaving his sight. And at times, this didn't seem such a bad thought at all, especially, when Sonic told him about his highly dangerous adventures.

It was a good thing, that he had his job to distract himself, otherwise he would have probably forced his love already to things he didn't want. Shadow was still working for GUN – but under a new Commander, an old friend of Rouge.

Commander Topaz had once worked together with the bat, when she had just made a deal to avoid jail for her thievery. The two female agents had started out as enemies, but they had soon become partners, if not friends. And Topaz had learned, that mobians weren't as bad, as Towers had always insisted. While the bat had then been ordered to watch over Shadow (not that she did that, but what Towers didn't know, didn't hurt him), Topaz had started to interact more with the mobian employees of GUN – and soon learned of how most of them had been forced to work here. One by one, the woman had discovered all of Towers' illegal actions and she had let the President know about those. As a reward, she had been promoted to a higher rank and had become the new Commander. She had immediately, after starting her new job, released all of the forced mobian workers and given those, who wanted to stay, better jobs.

Shadow, Rouge and their robotic friend Omega were now the special unit 'Team Dark' – the _dark_ hedgehog absolutely loved this name – and responsible for important tasks, that needed unusual talents. Almost daily, since about two weeks, they were on duty all over the world, helping people suffering from nature catastrophes, freed the victims of kidnappings and destroyed criminal organizations – and thanks to Chaos Control, they were almost everyday home for dinner.

Shadow liked it to help people, he felt, as if he was finally fulfilling his purpose. And it was a bonus, that 'supporting Sonic the Hedgehog in an exceptionally difficult fight' was actually one of their tasks, too. This way, he could watch over his love.

Of course, at times, he would need to leave battles to Sonic, especially, when he was needed elsewhere, but for now, everything was peaceful with Eggman in jail and Perringten dead and the blue hedgehog could take his time with finishing his recovery. And Shadow could think about a way to tell him about his immortality...and Sonic's. So far, everyone was happily unaware of both. Today, however, he would just focus on this race – and on testing, how far his mate had recovered by now.

"I'm ready, too!," Silver cheered happily. "Please be careful!," Blaze warned, while Mephiles, standing next to her among Sonic's friends on the sidelines, just smiled, wishing him luck silently.

The last few months had been...helpful. Since Sonic had been fit enough to walk – running had been still too much for him to this time – he had often been in Silver's room, talking with him. When Shadow had told him about Silver's amnesia, Sonic had been determined to help. For Silver, it had been an honor to be in Sonic's presence – even on the streets, the hero's reputation was legendary – and he had clung to the blue one's lips, as if he had been a god. This worshiping had been a little too much for Sonic, but he had managed it and their talks had had a healing effect: Silver had started to have dreams of the Island.

At first, he had mainly dreamed of Kylie, even though he didn't know her name, but very soon after, Scourge and Sonic had also appeared in those dreams. And soon enough, his memory had started to restore itself.

By now, it was almost back to normal. There were still a few gaps, but the important memories were back. Especially his feelings for Mephiles were stronger than ever and Sonic had the dark being's eternal thanks and the promise to fulfill ten of his wishes of whatever kind whenever he wished – there was no way, that Sonic would want his eternal debt, like he had promised it Kylie – as a reward. The hero had tried to recline any kind of reward, but Mephiles had insisted on it and they had, after a long discussion, come to this ten-wishes-compromise.

Silver had used the last month, after the recovery of his memories, to train his powers and by now, he was handling them pretty well. Blaze had also trained her newly found fire-powers, which had been most of the time very dangerous. Thankfully, the Freedom Fighters were experts in dodging, so if a fireball threatened to hit them and not the target, they could quickly jump out of the way. The cat still had a long way to go, since her fire got controlled by her feelings and stress or anger weren't exactly helping in controlling them. For now, she was simply trying to stay cool.

Tomorrow, she and Silver would move in with Mephiles, who actually owned a house. Shadow, who still didn't trust the peace to last, had tried to get the location out of him, so he knew, where to look for him, should he become a criminal again (even though arresting criminals wasn't his task anymore, he couldn't help it).

The argument, that had ensued because of that, had almost caused some victims, until Silver and Sonic had interfered, who had learned at this occasion, how to keep their semes in line. Silver with puppy dog eyes, small tears in those and a whimpered, "Please don't fight. I don't like it, when you fight.", and Sonic with a stern glare, a growl and an expression in his eyes, that said, "Fight one more minute in MY house, and you will be in serious trouble, mister!". After that, both semes had been avoiding each other for their ukes' sake.

Now, Silver wanted to know, if he could keep up with the two fastest hedgehogs alive, using his psychic powers. It was a little sad, that Scourge couldn't be here, too, but it couldn't be helped. The green uke and the light seme had disappeared two weeks after Sonic had woken up for the first time, just after Scourge had been declared as healthy according to Kylie's definition. The next morning, Scourge's bed had been empty and Fleetway had been nowhere to be found. All they had left were two pieces of paper on the bed, with two messages: _Thank you for everything and bye, S._ and _Thanks and I'm sorry...for everything I'll do next. F._ It had looked, as if Fleetway had added the last part of his sentence hastily and squeezed it between the first part of the sentence and his name.

Shadow had expected Sonic to be upset about Scourge's sudden departure, but the hero had been strangely relaxed. He had had the chance to talk with the green uke a day before he had left and apparently learned something from him, that let him believe, that he would be okay. Whatever it had been, Sonic kept it to himself.

"Alright, the race goes to the tree 600 meters away from here, around it and back to here. Rotor has built a camera, that will make a photo the second something crosses its sensor on the finish line.," Tails explained the race, pointing to Rotor, when he mentioned him. The walrus waved and patted the rather unspectacular metal box next to him lovingly.

The last few months had been... informative for the Freedom Fighters. Sonic had never been the type for relationships in their opinion, seeing how he never got close to anyone in a romantic way, neither boys nor girls. To see him with Shadow, had been alien at first, but it soon had become normal and even welcomed. They had the feeling, that Sonic was protected and cared for by him. It was something, that he could need. Someone, who looked after him, when he wasn't well – which was rare, but if it came to this, he really needed someone, who could fully take care of him.

Usually, this was Knuckles', or Tails' job, as the other Freedom Fighters had, since the threat Eggman posed wasn't the only one, scattered around the globe and couldn't be there always. They came only for true emergencies together, like the Island-incident. It was especially for the echidna rather pleasant to know, that they could leave a part of the worry about Sonic to Shadow now – he would have his hands full soon enough.

"Everybody ready?," Tails asked, raising a flag. Sonic bent a little lower for a better start, Shadow's shoes were making noises, showing, that they were ready to be used, Silver's whole body started to glow in a turquoise light, hovering a bit above the ground.

Seeing nothing but determination in the eyes of the three hedgehogs, Tails gave the signal, "Ready! Set! GO!", waving the flag at the last word and disappearing in a cloud of dust, as the trio raced away, playfully competing against each other, not caring for the result.

* * *

Meanwhile:

"ELLEN!," the warder barked over the currently dining prisoners. Some of the other women answered mockingly, mostly, because their first names were Ellen. The warder had meant the only prisoner with the family name Ellen, though.

Calmly, Kylie stood up, leaving her tray and her...food...on the table, walking to the warder, wondering, what was wrong now. For some reason, this particular person couldn't stand her – even though she had never done something for this hatred. "You're having a visitor.," the rough woman told the veterinarian curtly and turned around to lead her to the room, where visitors and prisoners could meet.

Kylie followed silently, wondering, who that might be – especially, since the visiting hours had ended three hours ago. So far, she had had only one visitor – her husband, on the second day of her being here. She had explained everything to him and asked him not to bring their children. She didn't want them to see her like this and to learn, how she had ended up here in the first place. Since then, he hadn't come anymore, probably, because he was forced to play the role of father AND mother, which was hard, she could imagine that much. Maybe he had found some time to visit now? But...why should he come this late? And _how_ did he come this late? The current warder would definitely not do her a favor...

Reaching the visitor's room, she quickly noticed, that no one of the occupants was male, or her husband. The ones, who she noticed first, were two well known female mobians. "Rouge, Lupe!," Kylie grinned, coming to them and plopping on a chair to be closer to the two smaller beings. "Hey there, Kylie. You look great.," Rouge grinned, lifting herself to sit on the table in front of the human.

Kylie crinkled her nose. She doubted that. The food was hardly such a thing and she knew, that she had trouble with sleeping. She looked pale in mirrors, had bags under her eyes and her lips were dry and cracked.

"How is everyone?," she asked, instead of answering. "Oh, they're fine. Your three uke-friends have recovered greatly.," Rouge replied, telling her, what she knew the veterinarian needed to know. "That's nice to know.," Kylie nodded, feeling a huge amount of her worry leaving her. "And how are you two?," she continued. "Better. My clan and I are finally free.," Lupe explained, knowing, that the woman wouldn't judge. "I'm very happy for you.," Kylie smiled, getting a smile in return.

In this moment, the third visitor in the room decided to clear her throat to draw attention to her. Kylie looked up to see a human woman with short, light brown hair and blue, almost purple eyes. She wore a formal navy blue uniform and she had several medals on her chest.

"Dr. Ellen, I'm happy to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you.," she started. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?," Kylie asked confused. "No, we hadn't have the chance to meet, yet. My name is Celia Topaz, I'm the Commander of the Guardians of the United Nations.," the woman introduced herself.

"You are...? But what happened to Towers?," Kylie asked, astounded. "He has been released from his duties." Topaz' answer didn't leave space for any more questions. "Anyway, I am here, because Agent Rouge and civilian Lupe did everything in their power to shorten your penalty.," she changed the topic.

Kylie's eyes widened. "Dr. Ellen, congratulations, you are now officially free.," Topaz declared, giving her a file. Kylie, too stunned for words, opened it and scanned the document in it. Apparently, her penalty hadn't only been shortened to the three months she had already been here, her crimes had also gotten erased. She was completely innocent in front of the law.

With wide eyes, she looked up and into Topaz' eyes. "I-I...why?," she stammered, finally finding her voice. "Why would you do this for me?"

Rouge chuckled. "I told you, she's not someone to trust easily. You owe me 100 bucks!," she cheered.

"Remind me to never bet with you again.," the human sighed, while going through the handbag she had and pulling out three envelopes, that she held out towards Kylie. "Let's just say, that I didn't have a choice in that matter.," Topaz smiled softly, answering the other woman's question, somehow.

Kylie raised a brow and took the envelopes. The first one on top was pretty dirty and there was sloppily written _Commander_ on the front, nothing more. It had been probably thrown in the mailbox of GUN. She opened it, pulled out an old piece of paper and read through the short message. Her eyes started to water the farther she came:

 _Hey Commy,_

 _I read in the newspaper, that you arrested Kylie. Are you stupid? She's an Angel! An Angel in hell and you arrest her!? You better get her out, or I'll come to you and kick your butt to the moon – and you can quote that!_

 _Scourge_

It was a little rude, but she got, that Scourge had tried to help – and hey, he had been pretty civil...more or less.

Putting the letter back, she took the second envelope, that was much cleaner and had a neat handwriting on the front, with an address and a stamp, it had been sent normally. She opened it and pulled out a clean, white piece of paper. She looked to the bottom of the message first and smiled upon seeing the well-known names there, before starting from the top.

 _Dear Commander,_

 _as we had to learn, you have sent two persons for years into jail, who don't deserve such punishment. Dr. Kylie Ellen and John Perringten may have been involved with the Island-incident, but both have not only rebelled against the institution built on said landmass, they also played important parts in bringing it down for good. We ask you therefore humbly to free those two citizens for their beneficial doings._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, Silver the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat, Mephiles the Dark, Sally Acorn, Rotor the Walrus, Bunnie Rabbot, Antoine D'Coolette, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy the Bee..._

There were a lot more names under those, showing off the number of friends Sonic and the others had. She presumed, that Sally had written this letter, it sounded too formal for Sonic's style and – judging by the slightly shaky handwriting – she guessed, that he hadn't been at his best, when the letter had been written. A look on the date in the top corner, that was more than two months in the past, confirmed her suspicion.

The last name on the list let her jaw drop, when she read it. "Uhuh, Sonic has friends in high places, doesn't he?," Rouge smirked, interpreting her gaze right. "Yeah...but...the President?," Kylie managed to get out. "Heroes, I guess.," the bat shrugged. "This was, by the way, just the first letter. We have about two hundred of those.," she added. "And every single one with your name on it, too.," Topaz remarked dryly.

"So...is John free already?," Kylie changed the topic quickly, before her brain exploded from too much information. "Since yesterday. The funny thing is, he could have paid the bail from day one – he's filthy rich after all.," Rouge explained. "He is?," Kylie wondered. She had known, that the Perringtens were rich, but she had never grasped the exact dimension. She would have guessed, that the Island-project had used up most of the money already. "Yeah. The Perringtens are the richest people on Mobius and as he is the only heir, he has inherited all the money. I wonder, though, why he had waited for exactly three months, before he had paid the bail.," the bat mused loudly.

"Three years – three months. Had he killed someone, he would have probably paid to be locked up forever.," Kylie thought, but didn't speak it out. She put the letter back and turned her attention to the third. It was a large brown envelope without any writing on it and in it were a lot of papers. She pulled the amount out and frowned upon seeing the many black stripes replacing the lines she expected, leaving almost no text to read.

Rouge, who looked over her shoulder, frowned at that, too. "What's that, the close-up of a zebra? Topaz!," she complained. "Rouge, these are official documents, civilians could only read those under special circumstances – and you liking someone enough to be nice isn't one!," the new Commander scolded. The bat pouted, while Kylie read what she could (literally), her eyes flying over the paragraphs, that had also short black stripes in them, hiding the names:

 _...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen had helped him to survive a serious infection and, that she had delayed his return to the island named 'Paradise' for as long as possible..._

 _...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen had brought his young to the world..._

 _...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen should be considered an angel. ...'s brother and mate have agreed to this..._

 _...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen had been "super nice to me and to everyone else, too". ...'s mate has agreed to this..._

Kylie's eyes watered again, while she went through the papers, her eyes finding the not-darkened paragraphs by now with practiced ease. She wasn't aware of the fact, that she had helped this much. She had always thought, that it was little to nothing in comparison to how they had to suffer. But here it was, black on white, how much she had actually helped, how much it meant for them, even if it had been two years ago and been only once. She had given them hope...

Rouge waited, until the human woman was done, before she asked, "So, ready to leave here?" Kylie wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yes."

* * *

John looked up at the mansion towering over him like a nightmare. Even though he was grown now, it still looked giant to him. He swallowed and made his way through the rusty, open gate.

The old key he held in his hand felt ice cold to the touch and he quickly lost his courage, stopping a meter away from the gate and turning around to the single human waiting there. "I...er...won't you...come?," he asked meekly.

The old man he meant, who stood on the other side of the gates, smiled sadly. "I'm terribly sorry, master John, but I can't. Your ancestors' house is protected by technical barriers, without a special card key, I am unable to move past this threshold without being killed.," he apologized politely, performing a perfect bow.

"C-card key!?," John stammered, patting his body frantically, even though he KNEW, that he didn't have one. He hadn't known, that there was this kind of security system, he didn't remember anything about it!

Heck, he hadn't even known, that his father had had a BUTLER, until Damius had visited him in jail, a day after his trial. Apparently, Jester had fired the loyal man, just before John had come to the mansion.

Damius was indeed loyal, though, he had always waited for the time to return into Jester Perringten's service, never doing any other job in all those years (as ascetic as he lived, his savings out of his former salary would have lasted for a few more decades).

When Jester had been declared dead, he had immediately offered his services to the next and only other Perringten. He was good in finding people, John had to give him that – he himself wouldn't have looked for his employer in jail.

The butler had kept a key to Jester's house and planned to give it to John, together with his being, so to say as part of his inheritance, but John wasn't exactly interested in a butler. He had given him only one order so far – to get him, when three months had passed.

Damius had done this, not questioning him and being as punctual as a clock, and then given him the key, on the young Perringten's request. John had decided, that he needed to return to this place, to find some closure. This was, where it had started and this would be, where it would end. The terror of his father.

He would take one last look at it, free Damius of his service and let someone wreck the house for good. He had a lot of money now, maybe he could build an orphanage on where it stood, or something like that.

Even though he knew, that it was just a house, an inanimate object with nobody in it, he still felt uneasy about getting closer to it, as if its inhabitants had had a deadly disease and the pathogen was still possibly there. The sudden information about this card key wasn't exactly helping with his fear. This thing was a death trap!

"Don't worry, master John, you have a card key.," Damius piped up, his voice as calm as ever. John stopped his hectic search. "H-huh?," he stammered. "Master Jester assured me, that his DNA is the key for himself. If I assume correctly, you are also having this special, inherited key.," the butler explained humbly. Well, he would be dead, if he didn't.

"You...know a lot about my father, correct?," John asked slowly. "A lot, that I will take into my grave, sir.," the old butler replied without a second of hesitation, with an 'I'll never change my mind about that, sir'-tone. "Great. I'll see you later.," John sighed, turned around and weaved his way through the weed, that was by now as tall as he was.

Reaching the front door, he opened it with the key, turning it with great difficulty. The door swung open surprisingly easy and a cloud of dust greeted him. John coughed violently and his eyes started to sting, but he made his way inside nonetheless. He rather got it over with, than stalling time.

A noise at his feet let him look down and blink his watery eyes. He frowned upon seeing a crumbled piece of paper under his foot, that was also dusty. He picked it up and unfolded it. It was a small card out of thick, formerly white paper, on that someone had written. The writing had almost disappeared because of the time and because it had been written in ink, that couldn't withstand the certain humidity in the house.

Still, he could make out the words 'Good luck' and a few names around the obvious message. The names...he knew them...they triggered something in his mind...

His eyes widened – the people from the catering, who had provided them with food! These were the names of a few of the deliverers, he recognized them! Did they...leave him this letter? Because he had been to busy for a personal farewell? They had...really cared about him, hadn't they?

His glare darkened. His father had found the little card first and just thrown it away like trash, deciding, that it was a waste of their time. He growled, folded the piece of paper neatly, with care, and put it in his pocket, thankful, that Damius had provided him with pants with pockets and a sweater for his first day out of jail. With a mental note to try and search out the people, who had been the closest to family and friends for the longest time, he made his way further through the house.

Going through the rooms and examining the dust, he asked himself, just what exactly he tried to achieve here. Refresh nostalgic feelings? What feelings? Of fear, sadness, loneliness? No, for sure not. Then what was keeping him here, let him go on? True, Damius had practically shoved him here by giving him the key, but he didn't have to, did he?

His train of thought was interrupted painfully, when he ran into something hard, that let him stumble back, lose his footing and fall onto his bottom. Rubbing his nose, he felt for any severe injuries, but found thankfully nothing. Groaning, he looked up at what hit him and felt his heartbeat quicken, when he realized, where his feet had carried him. He sat in front of Jester Perringten's office, he had ran into the firmly closed door of it. Looking up at it, he felt like the small boy he had once been, who sat in front of this unforgivably hard door for years, yearning for attention of his only relative.

He frowned, when a memory lit up unwanted in his brain. He remembered, he had been just acknowledged by his father, stepping for the first time into his office. He had felt so happy, so strong and accepted, that he had barely managed to pass the door frame. He still saw the high towers of books all around him, that had almost hidden something else from his curious eyes. Almost, he had seen it anyway. The second door in the room, a simple thing out of wood, seeming so innocent in the room, so unimportant without any kind of decor on it, unlike all the other doors he had cleaned... and yet, it had drawn him to it, as if he had been under a spell. Why had he never tried to open it? Because he had tried it, once and then never again. It had been the first time he had actually gotten his father angry. And he hadn't wanted that, so he had so much refused to touch it again afterwards, that he had forgotten about it all together. Until now.

John narrowed his eyes. He still remembered, how Jester Perringten's face had looked, when he had seen his only offspring standing there, with his small hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it. He had been all red, his features twisted in pure rage, he had shouted at the little boy, forbidding him harshly to EVER touch the door again. And little John, frightened out of his mind, had obeyed.

Slowly, grown-up John stood up, not bothering to dust himself off. He grabbed the door handle with unnecessary force, yanked it down and ripped it open. A few loose papers flew out from the wind he had created this way, accompanied by more dust, but this time, it hadn't an effect on him, he was too distracted. The office looked as untidy as ever, they hadn't cared to take anything with them, not even the files, they had simply gone to the Island. Not bothering with packing. It wasn't, as if John would have liked anything here, that he would have wanted to take with him, anyway.

Determined, he moved into the room, stepping on books and files, just because he had avoided it for years, and turned sharply to the door, that was so damn precious to his father. He shoved the book staples in front of it away, as if they were his father, replacing the man in his mind with them.

He kicked the last book on the ground away, grabbed the doorknob hard, as if he wanted to rip it off, turned it and pulled – only to be met with resistance. Out of pure rage, he pulled on the stupid door again and again, until he lost his grip and stumbled back to crash into some books, the hard edges boring into his back. "Okay...," he sighed, getting over his aggression. It was pointless anyway. "Think, John.," he told himself, while he stood up again. He remembered the strangely hidden elevator button and decided, that there had to be a way to open this door – he just thought too much in the box still.

He straightened and looked around, trying to think like his father...which was creeping him out, actually. His eyes stopped at a small, innocent looking vase on a shelf next to the door. It looked decorative there, like someone had tried to bring a speck of color in this temple of work. And it stuck out like a sore thumb for him. He knew the house, he had cleaned it several times already, seen every inch of it – and this was the only vase in the entire mansion. It had never seemed strange to him, that there weren't any, he himself hadn't cared for flowers, either.

Now, however, he asked himself, why his father had an empty vase in a shelf, where he could see it everyday. Frowning, he grabbed the piece of ceramic and attempted to lift it off. He could only move it a little, it was weighing far more than it should, before he heard a faint 'click' next to him and the door opened a bit. Letting go of the vase, he quickly went to the door and pulled it open – to look in a small, empty room. It was just big enough for him to stand in it, having walls out of wood, that looked well-kept. Not even dust was in the room, as if it had been the only one Jester Perringten had ever cared for. And yet, it seemed to be nothing but an empty broom closet.

John's eyes narrowed. "No way in hell, 'Father'! I won't believe this!," he snarled and stomped into the room, flinching, though, when the door slammed shut behind him, a small lamp over him coming to life, so that he stood in twilight. He turned around to where the door was, but stopped in the movement, when he realized, that he was moving down...with the entire room. He was standing in an elevator!

"Alright...," he slowly said, trying to find his balance, but almost fell over, when the room suddenly stopped and a door opened opposite the one he had come through. Cautiously, he stepped out, into complete darkness, that not even the dim light in the elevator could brighten.

He took a step into the room – and lights flickered on instantly, illuminating a big room, taking about half of the mansion's size for length and width and about two meters for height.

John felt his mouth open, but was unable to close it. It looked like an extended closet at first, until he noticed, that it was filled with...untypical stuff. He could see thick, big stone slabs, leaning against the wall on his right, halfway covered with dirty cloths, a small shelf with colorful crystals, small wooden things he couldn't identify easily from the distance and glasses with different contents filling it next to it, a giant screen and a computer in front of him and an even bigger closed cupboard on his right. Taking in the scenery, John spotted a single, old looking book in the shelf with the crystals and went to it – carefully, just in case. He didn't trust his father not to install some traps.

Reaching the book unharmed, he took it and opened it, starting to read. His eyes widened, the further he came. "W-what the heck is this?," was all he managed to get out for a long time, his eyes glued to the paper. It would be hours, until he would move again, until he wasn't paralyzed from shock and confusion anymore.

* * *

Aaaand done! Believe it or not, but 'The Island' is now finished. That doesn't mean, that it's done, though.

Before I come to that, I would like to thank everyone, who ever read, favorited or reviewed my story! Thank you so very much :)!

Now, I would love to announce, that there will be a second part to this story. I won't call it sequel, because The Island isn't a closed story, I left countless gaps in it for the second part. You can expect answers to questions like:

How will Sonadow and Mephilver develop?

Will Fleetourge come to be?

Why did Jester Perringten all that?

What is the role Shy is playing?

Is it really over...?

I know, some of you would love to read it right now (I'll have a suitable title, when I publish it, promise), but I have to ask for your patience, I'm afraid. I want to correct all mistakes I find and made in 'The Island' first, starting tomorrow (This should take 1-2 weeks), because only then, I will consider and mark the story as 'complete'. I will have to publish all chapters anew, I'm afraid, and I'm sorry for the confusion, that might come with it.

When I'm done with that, I will need some time to write at least the first two/three chapters, so that I have some air. It shouldn't take that long (I'm trying for shorter and more chapters, but if I succeed...), I'm estimating about a month, before I will upload the second part. I will write 'Second part of The Island' in the first line of the description, this way you'll recognize it easily.

Thank you again for liking my story! Have a nice weekend and see you with the next story :)!


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